The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1891-02-18
THE RED MAN IN WINTER
HOW INDIANS EAT AND LIVE DUR
ING THE COLD MONTHS.

the Tent-HOw Their Bread Is Made
Process of Hunting and Curing the
Leather for Leggins and Moccasins.
1t IS not strange that Indians are short
lived nor that there should be so high a
rate of mortality among their children.
The tribes north of an east and west line
coinciding with the northern limit of
New Mexico use for dwellings, what is
known as the tepee. An Indian of
wealth in the Ute country sometimes
has an opportunity to purchase an A
tent, and even wall tent. at some sale
OF condemned quartermasters supplies,
/ but the very best and newest canvas af-
| fords poor protection against the snow
storms and freezing winds of the plains.
The tent is usually staked down, with
a shallow gutter dug round it to carry
off the rain water, which would other
wise flood its interior, and, beginning in
the early autumn, fire is built in the
center of the earth floor, which is sell
dom allowed to go out Overhead and
hanging in lines suspended from the
canvas are the rifles and other weap
ons of the family, and the floor is Gov
cred with about six inches of dead grass
or hay, which in time is trodden down
and pressed into fair and tolerablv
soft mattress. Wrapped up in his blanket,
with his head resting on his saddle for
pillow, the Indian sleeps through the
night, depending somewhat on the fire
to keep him from freezing in extremely
cold weather.
LIFE IN A TEPEE.
In dry weather the ventilator at the
apex of the tent may be kept open, but
during storms, when it is closed, the at
mosphere of the tent is sitting and reek-
ing with the odor Of the unwashed fam
lily and of the many damp and badly
cured furs which every buck aecumu-
lates. Far from the agencies the In
dams lay in small stock of flour, coffee
and sugar sufficient to be used sparingly
through the winter, which, with his
frozen beef or antelope meat, constitutes
his bill of fare.
In tent ten feet in diameter, a buck,
two squaws and five or six small children
pass the winter months, and considering
their uncleanly habits, it is not difficult
to imagine the condition of the habita-
ton in the spring They themselves
probably appreciate this, because rather
than clean up they simply move their
| tent to some clean spot.
| With little flour, water and salt the
squaws make a thick paste, which is
! first cooked on hot stones until it be-
comes stiff, and then each cake is further
cooked by standing it on its edge with
its fiat surface exposed to the flames
until it is thoroughly baked into quite
palatable bread. Their meat is fried in
its own fat or roasted on spit stuck in
the ground, while a small child keeps it
turning to equalize the roasting. The
bread cakes serves as plates, while their
| fingers are both knives and forks, so the
Indian has no dish washing process to
| go through with, for when the meal is
finished he eats his plate and licks off his
knives and forks with his tongue.
MAKING LEGGINs.
The hunting of deer in the Rocky
mountains has driven them north into
British America, and in few more
! years our Indians will have no more
buckskins for leggins and moccasins
Only the skin of the heavy hided deer
can be used, that Of the antelope and
white tailed varieties being too tender
for long service. The Apaches make
their nloccasins and leggins in one piece,
in the style of hunting boots, while most
OF the Indians to the north wear slippers
and leggins. Whenever a deer is killed
and cut up the bladder is carefully cut
away, cleaned, and filled with the brain
Of the animal, and the little bag is most
carefully guarded until stream is
reached, where the hide may be cured.
The entire skin is then put into run
ming water, and weighted down with
stones. In four or five hours the soak
ing has swelled it and loosened the hair
at the roots, when it is taken out and
stretched on frame, while the owner,
with the aid of cleaned rib of the ami
NAL, scrapes it down until all the hair is
rubbed off, very much in the same man
ner as overheated horses are scraped to
remove the foam and sweat. The skin
I is then pulled and stretched for three or
four hours, and, at the same time, oiled
with the brain until it is perfectly dry,
soft and pliable, when it is ready for
use. When tan color is desired It is
soaked in an infusion of red bark. The
sole of the moccasin is always made of the
raw hide of beef cattle and sewed to the
upper with the sinews of the deer's tendon
achilles. -Cleveland Plain Dealer