INDIANS OF THE PLAINS 19 
SouTHWEST PAVILION 
INDIANS OF THE PLAINS 
The collections from the Indians of the Plains will be found in the hall 
adjoining. These Indians comprised the tribes living west of the 
Mississippi and east of the Rocky Mountains as far south as the valley 
of the Rio Grande and as far north as the Saskatchewan. (See map on 
south wall.) 
Occupying the greater part of the hall beginning on the left are the 
buffalo hunting tribes: the Plains-Cree, Dakota, Crow, 
Indians of the Bj ackfoot, Gros Ventre, Arapaho and Cheyenne. These 
Plains : , , I J 
tribes did not practise agriculture but depended almost 
entirely on the buffalo; buffalo flesh was their chief food, and of buffalo 
skin they made their garments. In some cases a buffalo paunch was 
used for cooking, and buffalo horns were made into various implements 
of industry and war. The spirit of the buffalo was considered a power- 
ful ally and invoked to cure sickness, to ward off evil, and to give aid 
in the hunt. Whenever the buffalo herds led the way, the more 
A DOG FEAST OF THE SIOUX 
Given in honor of Mr. Sanford, Pierre Choteau and Catlin. From the Catlin Collection of paintings. 
nomadic Plains tribes moved their tents and followed. With the 
extermination of the buffalo the entire life of the Plains Indians was 
revolutionized. 
On the right, near the entrance, are the village tribes of the Plains; 
the Mandan with whom Lewis and Clark passed the winter of 1804-1805, 
the Hidatsa who now live with them, and the Omaha, Kansa, lowe 
and Pawnee. All these tribes raised corn and lived in earth covered 
