THE BOOK OF INDIAN CRAFTS AND INDIAN LORE JULIAN HARRIF SALOMON i A .; ,fo:vi,,t>.oooo\ k /’^’^/l ■■ < VA TCTON-OAfiOT^ (-v-^^r'-ibr^ \ --'/ * r”""' **^'' I Y • ^ • 1 H^ir-. I / /"M y r\p \ / i I \**WKUT8\ » j y V ) >' Kcmt «v,X __ VtuNAM MONo 'I^ / »AO* -''CAWtU h«»i/ V jM^ve zUNr L.,_. »^NCA|,t08 .. CMIRfCAHUA! PAPACr* ! CULTURE AREAS IN THE UNITED STATES 1. Northwest Coast 2. Californian 5. Plateau 4. Plains 5. Southwest . 6. Eastern Woodland 7. Southeastern Woodland Ff AAAAAAAAAAAA The ^ook of INDIAN CRAFTS and INDIAN LORE n3.j The ^ook of INDIAN CRAFTS INDIAN LORE JULIAN HARRIS SALOMON With Many Illustrations hy the Author and Others'*? HARPER fif Brothers Publishers New York and London* 1928 The Book of Indian Crafts and Indian Lore. Copyright, 1928, by Harper Brothers. Printed in the U. S. A. First Edition. I—C ▼ SPECIAL NOTICE The publishers hereby give warning that the unauthorized printing of any portion of the text of this book, and the reproduction of any of the diagrams or illustrations, are ex- pressly forbidden. DOROTHY WHOSE PRACTICAL HELP, INSPIRATION AND ENCOURAGEMENT MADE IT POSSIBLE FOR ME TO FINALLY BRING THIS BOOK INTO BEING For permission to use many of the illustrations that appear throughout the text the author is indebted to the following institutions: American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) Smithsonian Institution (SI) Bureau of American Ethnology (BAE) United States National Museum (USNM) Junior Red Cross News (JRCN) The letters in parenthesis are used with these illus¬ trations to indicate their source. CONTENTS CHAPTER page I. The Indians of the United States i II. War Bonnets and Head-dresses 34 III. War Shirts, Leggins and Woman’s Costume 68 IV. Moccasins and Tanning Methods 92 V. Beadwork, Breastplates, and Necklaces 107 VI. Tipis and Wigwams 130 VII. Bows, Arrows, and Quivers 156 VIII. Weapons and War Paint 177 IX. Pipes and Bags 200 X. Musical Instruments 218 XI. Fire-making and Cooking 239 XII. Games 261 XIII, Dance Steps and Music 284 XIV. Dances and Ceremonies 331 XV. Producing an Indian Pageant 365 XVI. Indian Names 379 Bibliography 405 Index 41 i ILLUSTRATIONS Curly Bear, Chief of the Blackfoot Frontispiece A Stockaded Village of the Florida Indians facing p. 28 A Piegan Blackfoot Camp “ “ 28 Taos—A Pueblo Village “ “ 29 Skidegate—A Haida Village of the North¬ west Coast “ “ 29 Sauk and Fox Indians Wearing Deer Tail Roach Head-dresses “ “ 44 A Mandan Chief and His Exploit Feathers “ “ 44 Dakota War Bonnet and Hair Trimmed Shirt “ “ 44 A Horned Bonnet Worn by the Author “ “ 45 An Ogalla “Crow” or Bustle “ “ 45 Kilted Antelope Priests in the Hopi Snake Dance “ “ 76 An Indian of Manhattan Island “ “ 76 Plains Woman’s Costume “ “ 76 Hair Trimmed Shirt “ “ 77 A Northwest Coast Chief “ “ 77 Washakie—Chief of the Shoshone “ “ 77 Woodland Moccasins and Deer Tail Head¬ dress “ “ 92 Plains Moccasins “ “ 92 Making Moccasins in Camp “ “ 93 Tanning Hides in a Crow Camp “ “ 93 PoMO Men Making Shell Beads—Grinding AND Drilling “ “ 124 Plains Beadwork “ “ 124 Woodland Beadwork “ “ 125 A “Pipestem” Breastplate “ “ 125 ix X Illustrations Low Dog, a Sioux, Wearing Bone Breast¬ plate AND Bead Collar facing p. 125 A Tipi Made in a Boys’ Camp 140 A Blackfoot Tipi 140 Tipis Made by Boy Scouts at the Eastern States Exposition 140 OjiBWAY Rush Mat and Bark Wigwam 141 Framework and Completed Southern Cal¬ ifornia Grass House 141 Crow Warrior with Coup Stick and Shield 172 Mandan Chief with Lance 172 Bow Case and Quiver 173 A Dakota Shield 173 Indian Pipes 204 Square and Round Type Pouches and Knife Shield 204 Dakota Knife Sheaths 205 This Boy, Aged ii. Made His Own Willow Bed and Tipi and Camped in It for Nine Weeks 205 An Indian Drummer 220 Drums, Drum Frame and Rattles 221 In Council—Scout Leaders in Costume 221 A Fire-making Contest between an Indian AND a Boy Scout 252 A Californian Indian Making Fire by the Hand Drill Method 252 Cooking by the Hot Stone Method 253 Bread Baking in a Pueblo Oven 253 A Lacrosse Game on the Ice 268 Hoop and Pole Game in a Mandan Village 269 A Plains Dancer 316 Illustrations XI Blackfoot “Dog Soldier" Dancing facingp. 317 Hopi Snake Dance “ “ 317 Dakota Medicine Man “ “ 332 Hopi Katchina Dancer “ “ 333 Mandan Buffalo Dance “ “ 348 Pueblo Buffalo Dancers “ “ 349 Masked Dancer of the Northwest Coast “ “ 349 Sir Robert S. S. Baden-Powell, Chief Scout OF the World, with American Scouts Who Took Part in the London Jamboree Pageant OF 1920 “ “ 364 The Pony War Dance from the Culver Pageant “ “ 364 An Indian Dance in a Boy Scout Camp “ “ 365 PREFACE The idea of this book was really Curly Bear’s, not mine. It came one night as I was seated in his lodge with Apikuni (James Willard Schultz), listening to Heavy Eyes, Many Tail Feathers, White Grass, and other old men tell stories of the days when the plains were black with buflfalo. All these tales of wonderful adventure were told Apikuni so that he might preserve them in a book that he was writing. It was just as Heavy Breast finished telling us how he made the traps to catch the weasels, whose white skins decorated the costume he was wearing, that Curly Bear spoke. “Our stories Apikuni keeps for our children by put¬ ting them in his thick writings [books] but our hand¬ work will go with us to the Sand Hills.” “Yes, so it is,” said White Grass; “our young men no longer know how to make traps of bark and sinew. They buy those of steel from the trader. So it is with all that they need.” “Yet the old ways were good ways,” said Curly Bear, “and the things that Old Man taught us in the begin¬ ning should not be allowed to die. Would that they, too, might be put down in a thick writing.” And so to fulfill the desire of my old friend Curly Bear and also because I knew that boys and girls wanted xiii xiv Preface to learn how to do things the Indians did, this book was written. Camp directors and leaders of the great outdoor movements such as the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and Camp Fire Girls have found in Indian lore an oppor¬ tunity to enrich their programs in handicraft, pag¬ eantry, and ceremonial and to give to their work more romance and color. The schools, too, have found in the almost universal appeal that the Indian makes to the child, a method of using Indian lore for teaching many subjects. A project in Science carried out by the Lincoln Elementary School, Teachers College, Colum¬ bia University, which began with a study of Indian methods of growing cotton, led the children to a general study of Indian life. When it was over it was found that in addition to Science the children had touched on the following subjects: Reading, through Indian stories; Spelling, through Indian words; Geography, from the study of the Indian’s physical environment; History, through a study of the Indian’s relations to the white race; Household Arts, by cooking Indian dishes; Fine Arts, by reproducing Indian designs; and Physical Education, through Indian dances. The report says, ‘Tt is a study that is rich in worth-while leads. It has a historical as well as a social significance for the child. It is a subject to which children continually return, Preface xv even after it has been replaced by another central activity.” A summer camp, perhaps, offers the best opportuni¬ ties for the development of a program of Indian lore, for it may be adapted to all parts of the camp’s work. Tents, buildings, boats, and other equipment may be decorated with Indian designs. Indian meals may be occasionally served, made up of foods grown in an Indian garden. The handicrafts offer a variety of opportunities for indoor and outdoor activities, while field trips in search of materials will add new interest to nature study. Indian games, quiet and active, may well take their place with the better-known sports. Indian stories told round the camp fire and accom¬ panied with ceremonials and dances provide an outlet for emotional expression and adventure through the imagination. In the preparation of this book it was necessary for me to supplement my field work by drawing from the vast amount of ethnological data collected by scientific institutions. To the publications of these institutions I am especially indebted: Bureau of American Eth¬ nology; Smithsonian Institution; American Museum of Natural History; Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation; Peabody Museum; Field Museum of Natural History; University of California; Cana¬ dian National Museum. I am also under obligation to xvi Preface the same institutions for the use of many of the illus¬ trations. To those ethnologists who have critically read over parts of my manuscript and have offered many helpful suggestions, I am profoundly indebted and here extend my grateful thanks: to Dr. Pliny E. Goddard of the American Museum of Natural History, who read Chapters I, III, IV, VI, and IX; to Mr. Francis La Flesche of the Bureau of American Ethnology, who read Chapter II; to Mr. William C. Orchard of the Museum of the American Indian, who read Chapter V; to Dr. Stewart Culin of the Brooklyn Museum, who read Chapter VII; and to Mr. Donald Cadzow, Mr. Arthur Woodward, Dr. Melvin R. Gilmore, and Mr. Louis Shellbach III, all of the Museum of the American Indian, who read Chapters VIII, X, XI, XII, XIII, and XIV.