The weekly herald. [volume] (Cleveland, Tenn.) 1876-1888, 1878-07-04
Tho Indian and the BunaIo.

II hlnlcI Huul Oh DuIhlO III Aaiauh
territory Is carried on almost entirely
for the acquisition Of robes, and II is
only during a part Of the winter that
the coat is "prime," as the phrase Is.
Before the LIST Of November the hair is
not long enough to make a marketable
robe. After the middle Of January IL
gets ragged, and Its rich black-brown
Is bleached by the weather TO the color
Of dirty tow, especially along the
animals back. During the summer
moHths the hair is very short, and
frequently rubbed entirely of in many
places, from the animals habit Of wal
lowing In the mud. The robe of COM
merce is generally taken from COWS,
and sometimes from young bulls, but
never from old bulls, whose hides are
much too thick and heavy. In the
winter months the latter are covered
all over with thick, long and curly fur;
a name Of light-brown hair and fur,
like that off lion, only larger, envelopes
his neck; a long glossy dewlap, hang
ing from his chin like a deep fringe,
sweeps the ground; which, with his
saVage-looking muzzle, and prominent
black eyes flashing between the tangled
locks of his hair, give him altogether a
most ferocious appearance. In reality,
however, he is a very timid animal,
and it is only when he imagines himself
unable to escape that he becomes des-
perate, and therefore dangerous from
his immense strength.
| have been struck more than once
with the resemblance of old bulls to
lions, as | have seen them standing
apart on the low ridges and sandy knobs,
cycling one from afar with an air of
savage watchfulness-each neck crested
with luxuriant name, swelled into
greater largeness by the hump beneath
it, each short, tufted tail held straight
out from-the body in bold and lion-like
defiance. The full grown bull is
immensely shaggy, especially about
ilC uCdug NhlIl u SONClCu SO NdSb
a quantity of fur, wool and long hair
hanging down over its eyes, and almost
concealing the horns, as to give 1t the
appearance of being nearly one-third
the size of the whole body. Such an
outline, seen relieved against the night
sky, as one lies in cherries biYouac
upon the plains, is not calculated to in
spire a feeling of safety.
Most buffalo robes are found to have
been split down the middle and sewed
up again, the object ofthe process being
to tighten the labor addressing the skin.
The Indian women dress all the robes,
and few of them are able to prepare a
complete hide without assistance.
Some Indians, when asked why they
have married more than one wife, will
answer hat each wife requires another
to help her in dressing robes; and the
more wives one possesses the more skins
he is able to bring to market.
The hides are brought in from the
hunt just as they are taken from the
animals, and given to the women, who
stretch them upon a rude framework of
poles and flesh them with iron or bone
scrapers. They are then slowly dried,
and during this process various things
are applied to render them pllablc.
The final work is painting the inside
with pigments, a labor bestowed only
upon unusually fine skins. l have seen
some robes thus ornamented that were
beautiful specimens of Indian decora-
tive art. The designs used in most in
stances are of the calendar style. The
intention seems to be to keep a record
of certain years Oh the buffalo robe by
some symbol representing an event
that took place in them. The events
selected are not always the most impor-
tant of the year, but such as were, in
some sense, the most striking, and could
be best represented by symbols. For
example, stars falling from the top to
the bottom of the robe represent the
year 1888, an event from which the
Indians frequently count. The etching
of an Indian with a broken leg and a
horn on his head stands for a year in
which Mr.. Hay-waujina, One Horn,
had his leg "killed," and so on. The
symbols are placed in a spiral form,
beginning in the centre, and going a
little to the left; the line then turns on
itself to the right and below, and so on,
turning with the sun, These designs
are copied many times, %ofcourse, so that
in a pack of painted robes nine-tenths
of them will be decorated in exactly the
same manner.
The work Of dressing a buffalo skin
perfectly is a very tedious process, and
one squaw is only considered capable
of preparing ten robes for market dur
ing the year, To the savage with any
sort Of al eye to business, this fact alone
would be a sufficient incentive to poly
gamy on the most extended scale.