28 INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



purpose 1 . This pulverized meat was mixed with melted 

 fat and marrow, to which was added the dried hut 

 sticky cherry paste. The whole mass was then packed 

 in a long, flat rawhide bag, called a parfleche. With 

 proper care, such pemmican would keep for years. 

 In pioneer days, it was greatly prized by white trappers 

 and soldiers. 



Agriculture. Almost without exception, the village 

 group of tribes made at least some attempts to cultivate 

 maize. Of the northern tribes, none have been cre( lited 

 with this practice, except perhaps the Teton-Dakota. 

 Yet, the earlier observers usually distinguish the Teton 

 from the Santee-Dakota by their non-agricultural 

 habits. Of the southern tribes, we cannot be so sure. 

 The Cheyenne, who seem to have abandoned a forest 

 home for the plains just before the historic period have 

 traditions of maize culture but seem to have discon- 

 tinued it soon after going into the buffalo country. 

 The Arapaho are thought by some anthropologists to 

 have preceded the Cheyenne. Yet while many writers 

 are disposed to admit that all of the southern group 

 may have made some attempts at maize growing, they 

 insist that these were feeble in comparison with the 

 village tribes. When, however, we turn to the Plateau 

 area, there are no traces of maize growing. In asso- 

 ciation with maize it was usual to raise some varieties 

 of squash and beans. 



Thus, in a general way, the practice of agriculture 

 seems to gradually dwindle out as we leave the more 

 fertile river bottoms of the east and south, suggesting 



