The San Juan County index. (Aztec, N.M.) 1890-19??, 1902-01-03


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The Oklahoma Indian women are
not the most beautiful creatures in ex-
istence, yet Solomon In all his glory
was not arrayed like one Of these"
Many women Of the KiOwa, Com
manche, ArapahOe and POnca tribes
have dresses costing from $3.50 to
$500 apiece. They are not made In
what we should call the latest styles;
the decorations are what count.
The sQuaws' money Is nearly all
spent I'm purchasing costly ornaments
for their clothing. These ornaments
are IN the shape Of jewelry and prec-
ious stones, elk teeth and pearls. 1t is
nothing out Of the common to see an
Indian girl walking around over her
reservation with $500 worth Of elk
teeth tied to her dress I'm decorative
style. Again, a tWO-carat diamond is
no curiosity to these dusky bellies. Most
Of the dresses are made from soft
buckskin lined with silk or satin. Red
satin is q great favOrlte for dress lin
ing and shlrtwaists among the Indian
women. Yellow silk Is another Of their
favorites, but violet was the prevail
ing color this year. Next year the In
nAAA MWAAAMM MANV ANNAla tut AuaAAAW4 4
decree a new and fashy color to be the
~up-to-date thing, and, Of course, all Of
the women will follow her.
Society as we name it is a thing I'M
known among the reservation Indian
women, but they have a certain envy
Of social standing just the same. When
they come to the small towns on trad
ing days there may be assembled sew
/ nan1 hunn1wnI 80 Al. ,vNn Ev,w..
ious parts of the country, and they
gather in the agency and talk over
events among themselves, gossip upon
the scandals and rail against the
whites for hours at a time.
1t is during this function that they
may De seen I'M their best dress, and
each one tries to Guido her neighbors
in ornaments. The more elk teeth one
has on her dress the more popular she
Is at these weekly meetings at the
agency buildings. They examine each
others dresses carefully and freely eX-
press TO the wearer opinions upon the
quality and cOst-~If a dress meets with
the disapprOval Of one she has no hest
fancy about saying so to the owner of
such dress, who retOrts as she sees fit.
Sometimes open quarrels ensue at
these sessions because some woman
has been too bold in her criticism. Be
fore they 60 home they take a vote on
the dresses and the owner of the best
is crowned leader Of fashion for the
next week, and all must refrain from
criticlzing her dress. During the ensu-
ing weak there is n great race to out.
shine her garments, and this Is gen.
orally accomplished, no matter how
hard she may have striyen to hold her
place in the lead. The squaws do not
have to work as hard as is generally
supposed. They do little outside their
houses, as the Indians who have an in
come from the United States do not
farm. All of the money due the women
is paid direct to them and they spend
it to please their own tastes, which
means for dress.
The young Indian wife of to-day is
clean, a fairly good cook and tidy with
her house. She Is not yet well versed
in the art Of decoration and red and
green are pf mating eolOgs in al
III her fuU1f "pJrfiGr IN harmony %
not. The house rs good furniture, but
it is strangely asatnged. The lounge /,
a favOrite piece tGf furniture, and one
sees 1t in every INDIAN household, al
ways In the paflor. If the Indian,
have a plano Oh organ it goes into the
bedroom. The Young bucks best sad
die also goes into the parlor, and II
many houses it is hung upon the wall
Red ribbons ard tied to everything