50 INDIANS 01 I Hi. PLAINS 



variant is reported for the Nez Perce", Northern Sho- 

 shoni, and Plains-Cree in that the extensions of the 

 cape are formed into a tight-fitting sleeve. Some 



writer- claim that in early day- the A — iniboin and 



Blackfoot women also used this form. Formerly, the 

 Cheyenne, Osage, and Pawnee women wore a two- 

 piece garment consisting of a skirt and a cape, a form 



typical of the Woodland Indian- of the east. 



A close study of Plains costumes will disclose that in 

 spite of one general pattern, there are tribal style-. In 

 the first place, all dresses show the same main outline, 

 curious open hanging sleeves, and a bottom of four 

 appendages of which those at the sides are longest Fig. 

 14l Almost without exception these dressc- are made 

 of two elkskins. the natural contour of which is shown in 

 Fig. 15. The sewing of these together gives the pattern 

 of the garment, which is modified by trimming or piecing 

 the edges as the tribal style may require. This is a 

 particularly good example of how the form of a costume 

 may be determined by the material. The distribution of 

 tribal variations in these dress patterns is shown in 

 Fig. 16. 



The shirts for men are also made of two deerskins on 

 a slightly different pattern, but one in which the natural 

 contour of the skin is the determining factor. 



The manner of dressing the hair is often a conspicu- 

 ous conventional feature. Many of the Plains tribes 

 wore it uncropped. Among the northern tribes the men 

 frequently gathered the hair in two braids but in the 

 extreme west and among some of tin 1 southern tribe-. 



