52 Indians OF THE PLAINS. 



Textiles and Skins. While in a general way, it is 

 true that the Plains Indians used skins instead of cloth 

 and basketry, it cannot be said that they were entirely 

 unfamiliar with the latter. Of true cloth, we have no 

 trace. Blankets woven with strips of rabbit fur have 

 been noted (p. 41) and on certain Osage war bundles, we 

 find covers of thick strands of buffalo hair; these are 

 about the only traces of true weaving. On the other 

 hand, baskets were more in evidence. The Shoshone 

 and Ute were rather skillful, making and using many 

 varieties of baskets. The Nez Perce made a fine soft 

 bag like their western neighbors. The Hidatsa, Alan- 

 dan, and Arikara made a peculiar carrying basket of 

 checker weave, and are also credited with small crude 

 coiled baskets used in gambling games. It is believed 

 by some students that the last were occasionally made 

 by the Arapaho, Cheyenne, Kiowa, and Dakota. The 

 Osage have some twined bags, or soft baskets, in which 

 ceremonial bundles are kept, but otherwise were not 

 given to basket ry. The Omaha formerly wove scarfs 

 and belts. On the south, the Comanche are believed 

 to have made a few crude baskets. Woven mats were 

 almost unknown, except the simple willow backrests 

 used by the Blackfoot, Mandan, Cheyenne, Gros 

 Ventre, and others. These are, after all, but citations 

 of exceptions most pronounced among the marginal 

 tribes, the fact being that the area as a whole is singu- 

 larly weak in the textile arts. 



Since skins everywhere took the place of cloth, the 

 dressing of pelts was an important industry. It was 



