38

There is no such thing as nervousness in either sex. Living in but the one room, they are from babyhood accustomed to what would be unbearable annoyance to whites. The head of the lodge comes back tired from a hunt, throws himself down on a bed, and goes fast to sleep, though his two or three wives chatter around and his children tumble all over him. Everybody in the lodge seems to do just as he or she pleases, and this seems no annoyance to anybody else.

Unlike her civilized sister, the Indian woman, "in her hour of greatest need," does not need any one. She would be shocked at the idea of having a man doctor. In pleasant weather, the expectant mother betakes herself hours she returns with the baby in its cradle on her back, and goes about her usual duties as if nothing had happened.

Preparations for war or the chase occupy such hours of the winter encampment as the noble red man can spare from gambling, love-making, and personal adornment.

Each Indian must make for himself everything which he cannot procure by barter, and the opportunities for barter of the more common necessities are very few, the Indians not having even yet conceived the idea of making any articles for sale among themselves.

The saddle requires much time and care in its construction. Some Indians can never learn to make one, consequently this is more an article of barter than anything commonly made by Indians.

No single article varies so much in make and value as the bridle. The bit is always purchased, and is of every pattern, from the plain snaffle to the complicated contrivance of the Mexicans. The bridle of one Indian may be a mere headstall of raw-hide attached to the bit, but without frontlet or throat latch, and with reins of the same material, the whole not worth a dollar; that of another may be so collaborated by patient labor, and so garnished with silver, as to be worth hundred dollars.

The Southern Indians have learned from the Mexicans the art of plaiting horsehair, and much of their work is very artistic and beautiful, besides being wonderfully serviceable. A small smooth stick of one-fourth of an inch in diameter is the mould over which the hair is plaited. When finished, the stick is withdrawn. The hair used is previously dyed of different colors, and it is so woven as to present pretty patterns. The hair, not being very strong, is used for the head-stall; the reins, which require strength, are plaited solid, but in the same pattern, showing both skill, taste, and fitness.

The name "lariat" (Spanish, riata) is applied by all frontiersmen and Indians to the rope or cord used for picketing or fastening their horses while grazing, and also to the thong used for catching wild animals - the lasso. They are the same, with a very great difference. The lasso may be used for picketing a horse, but the rope with which a horse is ordinarily picketed would never be of use as a lasso.

A good riata (lasso) requires a great deal of labor and patient care. It is sometimes made of plaited hair from the manes and tails of horses, but these are not common, except where wild horses are plenty, one such riata requiring the hair of not less than twenty horses. It is generally made of raw hide of buffalo or domestic cattle, freed from hair, cut into narrow strips, and plaited with infinite patience and care, so as to be perfectly round and smooth. Such a riata, though costing less money than that of hair, in infinitely superior. It is smooth, round, heavy, runs easily and quickly to noose, and is as strong as a cable. Those tribes, as the Utes, who are unable to procure beef or buffalo skins, make beautiful lariats of thin strips of buckskin plaited together; but as these are used only for securing their horses they are usually plaited flat.

To make these articles is all that the male Indian "finds to do" in his ordinary winter life. Without occupation, without literature, without thought, how he can persuade himself to continue to exist can be explained only on the hypothesis that he is a natural "club man," or a more animal.

"From rosy morn to dewy eve" there is always work for the Indian woman. Fortunately for her, the "aboriginal inhabitants" have as yet discovered no means of making a light sufficient to work by at night. It is true they beg or buy a few candles from military posts, or traders, but these are sacredly preserved for dances and grand occasions.

But slave as she is, I doubt if she could be forced to work after dark, even if she had light. Custom, which holds her in so many inexorable bonds, comes to her aid in this case. In every tribe, night is the woman's right, and no matter how urgent the work which occupies her during the daylight, the moment that dark comes, she bedecks herself in her best finery, and stands at the door of the lodge, her ear strained for the first beat of the tom-tom, which summons her to where she is for then once queen and ruler.

There was formerly one exception to this immunity from night work, but it has gone with the buffalo. At the time of the "great fall hunt," there was no rest nor excuse for her. She must work at any and all hours. If the herds were moving, the success of the hunt might depend on the rapidity with which the women performed their work on a batch of dead buffalo. These animals spoil very quickly if not disemboweled, and though the hunters tried to regulate the daily kill by the ability of the squaws to "clean up" after them, they could not, in nature of things, always do so.

When the buffalo was dead the man's work was done. It was woman's work to skin and cut up the dead animal; and oftentimes when the men were exceptionally fortunate, the women were obliged to work hard and fast all night long before the task was finished.

The meat, cut as closely as possible from the bones, is tied up in the skin, and packed to camp on the ponies.

The skins are spread, flesh-side upward, on a level piece of ground, small slits are cut in the edges of the skin, and it is tightly stretched and fastened down by wooden pegs driven through the slits in the ground. The meat is cut into thin flakes and placed upon poles or scaffolds to dry in the sun.

All this work must be done, as it were, instantly, for if the skin is allowed to dry unstretched, it can be never be made use of as a robe, and the meat spoils if not "jerked" within a few hours.

This lively work lasts but a few weeks, and is looked upon by the workers themselves pretty much in the same way as notable civilized housewives look upon the early house-cleaning, very disagreeable, but very enjoyable. The real work begins when, the hunt being over, the band has gone into its winter quarters, for then must the women begin and utilize "the crop."

Some of the thickest bull's hides are placed to soak in water, in which is mixed wood ashes, or some natural alkali. This takes the hair off. This skin is then cut into the required shape, and stretched on a form, on which it is allowed to dry, when it not only retains its shape, but becomes almost as hard as iron. These boxes are of various shapes and sizes, some made like huge pocket-books, others like trunks. All are called "parfleche."

As soon as these parfleches or trunks are ready for use, the now thoroughly dry meat is pounded to powder between two stones. About two inches of this powdered meat is placed in the bottom of parfleche, and melted fat is lightly poured over it. Then another layer of meat is served in the same way, and so until the trunk is full. It is kept hot until the entire mass is thoroughly saturated. When cold, the parfleches are closed and tightly tied up. The contents, so prepared, will keep in good condition for several years. Probably the best feature of the process is that nothing is lost, the flesh of only and tough animals being, after this treatment, so
(37)

There is no such thing as nervousness in either sex. Living in but the one room, they are from babyhood accustomed to what would be unbearable annoyance to whites. The head of the lodge comes back tired from a hunt, throws himself down on a bed, and goes fast to sleep, though his two or three wives chatter around and his children tumble all over him. Everybody in the lodge seems to do just as he or she pleases, and this seems no annoyance to anybody else.

Unlike her civilized sister, the Indian woman, "in her hour of greatest need," does not need any one. She would be shocked at the idea of having a man doctor. In pleasant weather, the expectant mother betakes herself hours she returns with the baby in its cradle on her back, and goes about her usual duties as if nothing had happened.

Preparations for war or the chase occupy such hours of the winter encampment as the noble red man can spare from gambling, love-making, and personal adornment.

Each Indian must make for himself everything which he cannot procure by barter, and the opportunities for barter of the more common necessities are very few, the Indians not having even yet conceived the idea of making any articles for sale among themselves.

The saddle requires much time and care in its contruction. Some Indians can never learn to make one, consequently this is more an article of barter than anyting commonly made by Indians.

No single article varies so much in make and value as the bridle. The bit is always purchased, and is of every pattern, from the plain snaffle to the complicated contrivance of the Mexicans. The bridle of one Indian may be a mere headstall of raw-hide attatched to the bit, but without frontlet or throat latch, and with reins of the same material, the whole not worth a dollar; that of another may be so calaborated by patient labor, and so garnished with silver, as to be worth hundred dollars.

The Southern Indians have learned from the Mexicans the art of plaiting horsehair, and much of their work is very artistic and beautiful, besides being wonderfully serviceable. A small smooth stick of one-fourth of an inch in diameter is the mould over which the hair is pliated. When finished, the stick is withdrawn. The hair used is previously dyed of different colors, and it is so woven as to present pretty patterns. The hair, not being very strong, is used for the head-stall; the reins, which require strength, are plaited solid, but in the same pattern, showing both skill, taste, and fitness.

The name "lariat" (Spanish, riata) is applied by all frontiersmen and Indians to the rope or cord used for picketing or fastening their horses while grazing, and also to the thong used for catching wild animals - the lasso. They are the same, with a very great difference. The lasso may be used for picketing a horse, but the rope with which a horse is ordinarily picketed would never by of use as a lasso.

A good riata (lasso) requires a great deal of labor and patient care. It is sometimes made of plaited hair from the manes and tails of horses, but these are not common, except where wild hroses are plenty, one such riata requiring the hair of not less than twenty horses. It is generally made of raw hide of buffalo or domestic cattle, freed from hair, cut into narrow strips, and plaited with infinite patience and care, so as to be perfectly round and smooth. Such a riata, though costing less money than that of hair, in infinetely superior. It is smooth, round, heavy, runs easily and quickly to noose, and is as strong as a cable. Those tribes, as the Utes, who are unable to procure beef or buffalo skins, make beautiful lariats of thin strips of buckskin plaited together; but as these are used only for securing their horses they are usually plaited flat.

To make these articles is all that the male Indian "finds to do" in his ordinary winter life. Without occupation, without literature, without thought, how he can persuade hiself to continue to exist can be explained only on the hypothesis that he is natural "club man," or a more animal.

"From rosy morn to dewy eve" these is always work for the Indian woman. Fortunately for her, the "aboriginial inhabitants" have as yet discovered no means of making a light sufficient to work by at night. It is true they beg or buy a few candles from military posts, or traders, but these are sacredly preserved for dances and grand occasions.

But slave as she is, I doubt if she could be forced to work after dark, even if she had light. Custom, which holds her in so many inexorable honds, comes to her aid in this case. In every tribe, night is the woman's right, and no matter how urgent the work which occupies her during the daylight, the oment that dark comes, she bedecks herself in her best finery, and stands at the door of the lodge, her ear strained for the first beat of the tom-tom, which summons her to where she is for then once queen and ruler.

There was formerly one exception to this immunity from night work, but it has gone with the buffalo. At the time of the "great fall hunt," there was no rest nor excuse for her. She must work at any and all hours. If the herds were moving, the success of the hunt might depend on the rapidity with which the women performed their work on a batch of dead buffalo. These animals spoil very quickly if not disemboweled, and though the hunters tried to regulate the daily kill by the ability of the squaws to "clean up" after them, they could not, in natuer of things, always do so.

When the buffalo was dead the man's work was done. It was woman's work to skin and cut up the dead animal; and oftentimes when the men were exceptionally fortunate, the women were obliged to work hard and fast all night long before the task was finished.

The meat, cut as closely as possible from the bones, is tied up in the skin, and packed to camp ont he ponies.

The skins are spread, flesh-side upward, on a level piece of ground, small slits are cut in the edges of the skin, and it si thighly stretched and fastened down by wooden pegs driven through the slits in the ground. The meat is cut into thin flakes and placed upon poles or scaffolds to dry in the sun.

All this work must be done, as it were, instantly, for if the skin is allowed to dry unstretched, it can be never be made use of as a robe, and the meat spoils if not "jerked" within a few hours.

This lively work lasta but a few weeks, and is looked upon by the workers themselves pretty much in the same way as notable civilized housewives look upon the early house-cleaning, very disagreeable, but very enjoyable. The real work begins when, the hunt being over, the band has gone into its winter quarters, for then must the women begin and utilize "the crop."

Some of the thickest bull's hides are placed to soak in water, in which is mixed wood ashes, or some natural alkail. This takes the hair off. This skin is then cut into the required shape, and stretched on a form, on which it is allowed to dry, when it not only retains its shape, but becomes almost as hard as iron. These boxes are of various shapes and sizes, some made like huge pocket-books, others like trunks. All are called "parfleche."

As soon as these parfleches or trunks are ready for use, the now thoroughly dry meat is pounded to powder between two stones. About two inches of this powdered meat is placed in the bottom of parfleche, and melted fat is lightly poured over it. Then another layer of meat is served in the same way, and so until the trunk is full. It is kept hot until the entire mass is thoroughly saturated. When cold, the parfleches are closed and tightly tied up. The contents, so prepared, will keep in good condition for several years. Probably the best feature of the process is that nothing is lost, the flesh of only and tough animals being, after this treatment, so