The Last of the Buffalo 



tribes, nor that it entered largely into 

 their sacred ceremonies, and was in a 

 sense worshipped by them. " Through 

 the corn and the buffalo we worship the 

 Father," say the Pawnees. "What one 

 of all the animals is most sacred ? " ask 

 the Blackfeet ; and the reply given is, 

 "The buffalo." 



The robe was the Indian's winter cov- 

 ering and his bed ; while the skin, freed 

 from the hair and dressed, constituted his 

 summer sheet or blanket. Dressed hides 

 were used for moccasins, leggings, shirts, 

 and women's dresses. Dressed cow-skins 

 formed their lodges, the warmest and 

 most comfortable portable shelters ever 

 devised. Braided strands of raw hide fur- 

 nished them with ropes and lines, and 

 these were made also from the twisted 

 hair. The green hide was sometimes used 

 as a kettle, in which to boil meat, or, 

 stretched over a frame of boughs, gave 

 them coracles, or boats, for crossing rivers. 

 The tough, thick hide of the bull's neck, 

 allowed to shrink smooth, made a shield 

 which would turn a lance-thrust, an 

 arrow, or even the ball from an old- 

 fashioned smooth-bore gun. From the 

 raw hide, the hair having been shaved 

 off, were made parfleches, — envelope-like 

 227 



