Chapter I. 

 MATERIAL CULTURE. 



SIX( 5E this is a discussion of the general character- 

 istics of Plains Indians, we shall not take them up 

 by tribes, as is usual, but by topics. Anthropolo- 

 gists are accustomed to group the facts of primitive life 

 under the following main heads: material culture (food, 

 transportation, shelter, dress, manufactures, weapons, 

 etc.), social organization, religion and ceremonies, art, 

 language, and physical type. 



Food. The flesh of the buffalo was the great staple 

 of the Plains Indians, though elk, antelope, bear and 

 smaller game were not infrequently used. On the other 

 hand, vegetable foods were always a considerable por- 

 tion of their diet, many of the eastern groups cultivating 

 corn (maize) and gathering wild rice, the others making- 

 extensive use of wild roots, seeds, and fruits. All the 

 tribes living on the edges of the buffalo area, even those 

 on the western border of the Woodlands, seem to have 

 made regular hunting excursions out into the open 

 country. Thus Nicolas Perrot writing in 1680-1718 

 (p. 119) says of the Indians in Illinois:— 



The savages set out in the autumn, after they have gathered the 

 harvest, to go hunting; and they do not return to their villages until 

 the month of March, in order to plant the grain on their lands. As 

 soon as this is done, they go hunting again, and do not return until 

 the month of July. 



