6 1 INDIANS 01 l ill. PL UN8 



besi know n under the following types: a, split leg bones; 

 h. combined tibia and fibula of deer or similar animal: 



c, rib bone: d, wooden -tick with metal blade in middle. 

 stick usually curved. 



From the collection- in this Museum it seems thai 

 the split leg bone type is not found in the Plain-. 

 Should further inquiry show this to be the case, it 

 would be a matter of >ome interest since the split bone 

 type is found in archaeological collections from British 

 Columbia, Ohio, and New York, and is therefore of great 

 antiquity as well as wide distribution. In any case the 

 data for historic times indicate that some form of 

 beaming tool is a concomitant of deerskin dressing from 

 Alaska and California (the Hupa) to Labrador, and 

 Pennsylvania. 



The rubbing with a rough stone is the usual treat- 

 ment accorded deerskins, and cannot be considered 

 peculiar to the Indians of the Plains. 



Tailoring. The garments of the Indians of the 

 Plains were simple in construction, and the cutting of 

 the garment was characterized by an effort to make the 

 natural shape of the tanned skin fit into the desired 

 garment, with as little waste as possible. (Fig. 15.) We 

 do not know how skins were cut before the introduction 

 of metal knives by white traders. Needles were not 

 used by the women among the Plains Indians, but the 

 thread was pushed through holes made with bodkin- 

 • or awls. In former times these awl- were made of 

 bone: the sewing was with sinew thread made by 

 shredding out the long tendons from the leg of the 



