Many of the Siouan
Indians used the lance, javelin, or spear. The domestic utensils were
scant and simple, as became wanderers and fighters, wood being the common
material, though crude pottery and basketry were manufactured, together
with bags and bottles of skins or animal intestines. Ceremonial objects
were common, the most conspicuous being the calumet, carved out of the
sacred pipestone or catlinite quarried for many generations in the midst
of the Siouan territory. Frequently the pipes were fashioned in the form
of tomahawks, when they carried a double symbolic significance, standing
alike for peace and war, and thus expressing well the dominant idea of the
Siouan mind. Tobacco and kinnikinic (a mixture of tobacco with shredded
bark, leaves, etc(32)) were smoked.
Aboriginally the Siouan apparel was scanty, commonly comprising
breechclout, moccasins, leggings, and robe, and consisted chiefly of
dressed skins, though several of the tribes made simple fabrics of bast,
rushes, and other vegetal substances. Fur robes and rush mats commonly
served for bedding, some of the tribes using rude bedsteads. The
buffalo-hunting prairie tribes depended largely for apparel, bedding, and
habitations, as well as for food, on the great beast to whose comings and
goings their movements were adjusted. Like other Indians, the Siouan
hunters and their consorts quickly availed themselves of the white man's
stuffs, as well as his metal implements, and the primitive dress was soon
modified.
Pages:
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37