32 l\Di IN8 "l mi. PLAINS. 



groat lakes the broad expanse of water offered every 

 advantage to their use. Since almost every Plain- 

 tribe used some form of the bull-boat for ferrying, and 

 many of them came in contact with canoe-using 

 Indian-, the failure of those living along the Missouri 

 to develop the canoe can scarcely be attributed to 

 ignorance. 



When on the march, baggage was carried on the 

 human back and also by dogs, the only aboriginal 

 domestic animals. Most tribes used a peculiar A- 

 shaped contrivance, known as a dog travois, upon which 

 pack- were placed. All the northern tribes, save the 

 ( row, are credited with the dog travois. Mam' of 

 the village tribes also used it. as did also some of the 

 southern group. With the introduction of the hon 

 a larger but similar travois was used. This, however, 

 did not entirely displace the dog travois as Catlin's 

 sketches show Indians on the march with both horses 

 and dogs harnessed to travois. The travois of the 

 northern tribes were of two types: rectangular cross- 

 frames and oval netted frames, Fig. 5. The Blackfoot, 

 Sarsi and Gros Ventre inclined toward the former; the 

 Assiniboine, Dakota, Hidatsa, and Mandan toward the 

 latter, though both types were often used simultane- 

 ously. On the other hand, the southern tribes seem 

 to have inclined toward an improvised travois formed 

 by binding tipi poles to the sides of the saddle and 

 slinging the pack across behind. As previously noted, 

 the ('row seem not to have used the travois and the 

 same mav be said of the tribes in the Plateau area. 



