1902.] Kroeber, The Arapaho. 25 



for making them, provides food, and invites old men to his 

 tent. These come and remain all day. One makes points, 

 one feathers the shafts, one paints them, and so on. Mean- 

 while they tell stories of war or of the bviflalo-hunt, according 

 to the purpose for which the young man is to use the arrows. 

 They make six or twelve arrows, all painted with the same 

 marks. The old man who does the painting shows the marks 

 to all the others, so that there can be no dispute as to the 

 ownership of the arrows. Were any one else ever to claim 

 this young man's arrow as his own, the old men would recog- 

 nize the marks, and settle the dispute. 



In the time when old men wore their hair drawn in a bunch 

 over the forehead {i. e., in the traditional, not mythic past), 

 baskets of flexible fibre were made. They were used as 

 trays. Some, more finely woven, and covered with pitch 

 inside, were used for drinking. At present small trays of 

 coiled basketry are sometimes used for throwing dice. 



Pottery was formerly made of mud (clay?) mixed with a 

 little white sand. Several pieces were made and joined to- 

 gether until a round vessel was formed. This was then 

 baked in the fire. Another informant stated that to make 

 pottery, stone was pounded fine, and mixed with clay. This 

 was worked by hand, just as a swallow builds its nest, until 

 a large vessel was made. This was heated to make it hard. 

 Some vessels were merely dried. The vessels were of various 

 sizes, and were used for cooking. This art must have com- 

 pletely gone out of practice some time ago, as no traces of it 

 remain. One old man denied that the Arapaho ever made 

 pottery. 



Meat was boiled in rawhide. A hole was made in the 

 ground, and rawhide pressed down into it, its edges being 

 weighted down with stones. The sack-like rawhide was then 

 filled with water, which was made to boil by means of heated 

 stones. Plates were made of rawhide. Rawhide was used to 

 pound dried meat on. Bowls were made of knots of cotton- 

 wood- trees. A spherical knot was cut in halves, and .then 

 hollowed out. Spoons, as well as cups, were made of the 

 horns of mountain-sheep. 



