MAT] R] \1. CI LTURE 



55 



Fire=making. The methods of making fire are 

 often of great cultural interest . So far as our data go, the 

 method in this area was by the simple firedrill as shown 



in the Shoshoni collections, 

 Fig. 17. Some of the Wood- 

 land tribes used the bowdrill 

 but so far, this has not been 

 reported for the Plains. It 

 may be well to note that to 

 strike fire with flint one must 

 have some form of iron and 

 while pyrites was used by 

 some Eskimo and other tribes 

 of the far north, it seems to 

 have been unknown in the 

 Plains. Naturally, flint and 

 steel were among the first 

 articles introduced by white 

 traders. 



Textiles and Skins. 

 While in a general way, it is 

 true that the Plains Indians 

 used skins instead of cloth and 

 basketry, it cannot be said 

 that they were entirely un- 

 familiar with the basketry art. 

 Of true cloth, we have no trace. 

 Blankets woven with strips of rabbit fur have been 

 noted (p. 43) and on certain Osage war bundles, we 

 find covers coarselv woven of thick strands of buffalo 



Fig. 17. Firech 

 ern Shoshoni. 



North- 



