Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-03-06

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of New York. after years and years OF
search. Mr.. Heye became interested in
Indian history while engaged In laying q
railroad across the Navajo country In
the Arizona desert. From that region his
interest extended and he began a system
attic search which took him over the
entire western hemisphere.
What at first was to the engineer .
fad became q life's work. Expeditions
were fitted out and every source watched
that promised q new specimen. The re-
suit Is the marvellous collection at the
university today.
Every Indian tribe known to history
was studied by Mr.. Heye but one-third
OF the specimens he gathered, because OF
lack OF room. have not yet been placed
on the museums shelves.
1t has taken a year and a half to clas-
sify the various articles that have been
placed on view. Two large halls are filled.
part OF a third and the ground floor.
Plains Indians, Sioux. Crows. Chey-
ennes, Arapahoes, Osages. Winnebagoes
and Dakotas. all have their own section.
and the history of each branch OF the race
is clearly told by the utensils and rough
drawings they have left behind them.
The ceremonial drum of the plains In
dams, those nomadic tribes that roamed
about like the buffalo, disdaining to Gull
tivate the soil, is shown in one corner.
and a few feet farther on can be seen an
odd ghost dance dress covered with ca
balistic figures that scientists declare rep
resent important historical discoveries.
The dress once belonged to a woman
Arapaho In the year 1850.
OF peculiar interest are the scalp
counts of the Usage tribe. From the
outer cover to the inner scalp the curious
bundles are worthy of study The outer
bag is made OF woven buffalo hair. which
gives It a reddish appearance. Inside this
is another bag of woven rush mating.
Within this is third Of finely dressed
skin which holds the sacred count
itself.
The scalp count is formed by the
body Of a bird Of prey. which has stone
beads for eyes and which Is painted a
dark green color. About the body and
lying parallel with the tail feathers are
the scafps themselves
Each scalp represents the body OF a VIC
tim slain. Very few such relics are now
in existence.
One of the most important specimens I'm
the entire exhibit from a scientific point
Of view is the famous winter count or
calendar robe Of Lone Dog. a buffalo
hide covered with quaint figures and In
scrfptions.
It is in the form of three bands Of
lines. and they indicate that thirty Da-
kotas were killed by the Crows. The
next figure to the left u that showing a
roughly drawn human figure. which -
spotted with red. which shows that many
died Of smallpox in that year.
Thus the record goes year b. year.
each one represented by an appropriate
symbol. Some OF the events noted are
of tribal Importance only. while others
furnish data OF real worth for the stu
dent Of the early history OF the Sioux
country. For instance. we find. under
date Of 1S12-13. that in that year wild
horses were first run and caught by the
Dacotahs; in 1856 the San Arcs made
their first attempt at building an earth
lodge; In 1922 the talk of the year
was concerning q very brilliant meteor
which fell to the earth. In 1S23-24 white
soldiers made their first appearance IN
the Sioux region. The year 1894 is
shown on the robe by means of black
crescent surrounded by dots. This rep
resents a shower of stars in the night
and recalls the great meteoric shower
talked of by whites as well, which
Cured on the night of November II. 1s:r:.
The textile exhibit is typically that OF
the southwest-that arid region where
everything is brilliant and where the In
dian products seem ,.., to reflect their sur
from the Aguas Calientes region of old
Mexico is handmade fabric. which is
no longer produced. Forty years ago the
Indian woman ceased her laborious task
OF hand-weaving and took kindly to the
machines which the Europeans had
brought to these shores.
One case contains large series OF
IroQuOis masks which were and still are
used in ceremonial dances. The main
group Is from the Cattaraugus reserva
ton in New York state but fbera ara
adequate series from the Tonawanda and
other reservations in New York, also 4
fine series from the Grand river reserva-
ton In Canada This case contains also
an exhibit OF clothing, including costumes
from the Canadian Iroquois. the Pas
samaquoddy, the Malicite. the Nescapi Of
Labrador, the Huron and the Loucheoux
OF the Mackenzie river district Baf,Y
carriers. turtle she'll rattles and snow
shoes are also exhibited.