INDIAN- 01 1 HI. PL UN8 



hair; these are aboul the only traces of true weaving. 

 On^the other hand, baskets were more in evidence. The 

 Shoshoni and Ute wererather skilful, making and using 

 many varieties of baskets. The Nez Perce* made a fine 

 soft bag like their western neighbors. The Hidatsa, 

 Mandan, and Arikara made a peculiar carrying basket of 

 checker weave, and arc also credited with small crude 

 coiled baskets used in gambling games. It is believed 

 by some students that the lasl were occasionally made 

 by the Arapaho, Cheyenne, Kiowa, and Dakota. The 

 I tsage have some twined bags, or soft baskets, in which 

 ceremonial bundles are kept, but otherwise were not 

 given to basketry. The Omaha formerly wove scarfs 

 and belts. On the south, the Comanche are believed 

 to have made a few crude baskets. Woven mats were 

 almost unknown, except the simple willow backrests 

 used by the Blackfoot, Mandan, Cheyenne, Gros 

 Ventre, and others. These are, after all, but citations 

 of exceptions most pronounced among the marginal 

 tribes, the fact being that the Plains area as a whole is 

 singularly weak in the textile arts. 



Since skin- everywhere took the place of cloth, the 

 dressing of pelts was an important industry. It was 

 not only woman's work but her worth and virtue were 

 estimated by her output. Soles of moccasins, parfleche, 

 and other similar bags were made of stiff rawhide, the 

 product of one of the simplest and perhaps the most 

 primitive methods of treating skins. The uppers of 

 moccasins, soft bags, thongs, etc., were of pliable 

 texture, produced by a more elaborate and laborious 

 process. 



