drums. These articles were usually adorned especially if they were to be used in a ceremonial or were made for a chief or a member of his family. Navel amulets, often shaped to represent turtles, and other charms were also highly decorated. With the adoption of the Christian religion the Indians began to use beadwork in the churches. Altar cloths, stoles, and beaded covers for hymn books are to be found. Beaded articles are sometimes used for church hangings. Thus there has always been a wide range for the development of design in the quill and bead work done on skins. As other materials have been substituted for the skins by the Indians the integrity of their native craft has broken down. Interesting customs were attached to the use of the handicraft articles. The navel amulet was a small leather bag, usually turtle-shaped and handsomely beaded, in which a piece of the umbilical cord of the first born child was carefully packed in milkweed and herbs. The amulet was highly treasured and was worn by the owner at the left of the belt as a charm. A beaded baby carrier, or hood, if presented to the parents of a first born child, called for the return gift of a horse, a form of "give-away" practiced up to recent years. No doubt quill and bead work have always found place in the "give-away." The thrifty Indian of to-day finds it an embarrassment to be presented with a handsomely beaded costume as one of the gifts at a "give-away." The "give-away" must be reciprocated at a later time so that the practice is an expensive one, detrimental to the over-taxed family budget. The Indian camp presented a scene of great activity when skins were to be prepared for use. A large group of workers usually participated in the dressing of the skins. Much labor was involved, and special implements were fashioned out of bone for the work. First the wet hide, hair side down, was staked to the ground and carefully scraped to remove the tissue. Then the hair was removed and the skin reduced to a uniform thickness by scraping on the flesh side with an adze-like tool which came to be called a bone flesher. The bone flesher was sometimes fashioned from an elk's horn. The skin thus prepared became known as rawhide. When unusual thickness and hardness were desired, as for use on war shields, alternate soaking and drying over a slow, smoky fire were necessary. Various shades of brown and orange were obtained by special treatment. If a soft flexible skin was desired it was necessary to give the rawhide further treatment. Specially prepared mixtures of brains, eggs, cooked ground-up liver, spleen, and fat from the animal, or mixtures of vegetable products, were thoroughly rubbed into the hide. In recent times a strong soap solution has been used for this purpose. When the hide was well saturated it was dried, then soaked in warm water and rolled up into a tight bundle. If the hide was not well staked down to the ground before the process of curing was begun it became much shrunken, and it was necessary to stretch it after curing had been completed. This was accomplished by alternate soaking in warm. water and pulling with hands and feet, by pulling down over a rounded post, or by two persons stretching it. Sometimes the skin was pulled rapidly through a small opening to give greater softness. The skin would finally be restored to nearly its original size, and thoroughly softened and smooth. One ceases to wonder that small pieces of old skins are highly valued when one realizes the amount of work that has gone into their preparation. One of the interesting features of the work done with skins is that no patterns are used. A sharp knife, put in the mouth to moisten the edge with saliva, was used directly on the skin as it lay stretched on the ground. With a free motion of the arm the various articles would be fashioned with surprising skill. The skins were used with an economy that could well be imitated by the modern seamstress. Even dry old pieces of skin were softened and put to use. Small pieces of skin and skins of small animals were used for moccasins, pouches, and fringes. Fringe found place as decoration on innumerable articles. Figures of men and animals were sometimes cut out of small pieces of rawhide, a practice still followed by the Sioux on the Rosebud Reservation. To-day some of the older women make designs by folding and tearing or cutting paper, thus insuring a balanced pattern. Folded and torn (or bitten) patterns may have been derived from similarly manufactured patterns of birch bark made by the Indians of the Great Lakes and eastern Canada. Patterns have proved necessary in recent years for the younger Indians to make marketable products. Articles made of skin soil easily but the Indian women are able to clean them in a satisfactory way by the use of clay, porous bone, porous rock, or chalk. A special lotion prepared from natural chalk is used by some of the Indians for cleaning skins. SINEW The sinew was usually from the buffalo, elk, moose, or other large animal, and was taken from the large tendon which lies along each side of the backbone, beginning just back of the neck joint and extending for about three feet. To-day the beef or calf tendon is commonly used. Sinew from the horse is also valued, as the fibers are longer and easier to roll and therefore become more elastic. Tendon to be used for sinew is removed from the body as intact as possible. While still moist it is cleaned by scraping thoroughly on both sides with a piece of flint or bone. Before it is too dry the tendon is softened by rubbing together between the hands, after which the pieces of sinew can be stripped off easily. If the tendon has not been prepared soon after it is removed from the body it is necessary to soak it until freed from the natural glue, then it is hammered and softened and the threads stripped out with an awl or piece of flint. Formerly this awl was made of bone or horn. Later a steel awl or nail ground to a point was substituted. Thorns of the buffalo berry or tree needles were sometimes used in place of the awl. As the fibers are stripped off they are moistened and twisted for use. This is accomplished by putting the fingers to the mouth and moistening them with the saliva, then rubbing the sinew against the knee with a quick motion. When it appears to be sufficiently twisted it is carefully tested to see if it has acquired the proper degree of elasticity. The fibers as stripped off for use range from one to three feet in length. For convenience in using, the experienced beadworker often strips off enough of the sinew to braid in a loose plait from which a fiber can easily be drawn out as needed. When used in sewing, the end of the sinew is twisted to a fine stiff point on which it is easy to string beads. No needle is used by the old beadworkers in their embroidery or sewing. To facilitate the work the soft unpointed end of the sinew is moistened with saliva and twisted to a point, then dried. Thus a stiff, needlelike point is produced which can be slipped easily through the awl holes. A large number of pieces may be prepared in this way before the embroidery work begins. Though sinew can be kept indefinitely, it is easier to use when fresh, as it has a tendency to become brittle when dry. It can be soaked in warm water to restore its flexibility. Sinew was used for sewing seams in costumes, bags, pouches, tents, boats, etc., as well as for working out the embroidery designs with quills and beads, and in making bows and arrows. The short piece of tendon found under the shoulder blade of the cow provided a thick cord of sinew, several lengths of which were sometimes twisted together for use as a bow string. DESIGNS In the early development of beadwork there were distinct geographic areas in which two types of decorative designs were used. Floral or mosaic designs occurred in the region about the Great Lakes, and geometric forms were developed by the beadworkers in the Plains area. The tribal designs of the Sioux adhere closely to these early geometric forms. Undoubtedly the character of the Sioux designs has been in large measure determined by the medium in which they were first worked out. When the use of beads was adopted, the designs which had been used in quill work were continued and these designs have always influenced bead embroidery. Though similar designs run through the beadwork of all the Plains Indians, distinct differences are shown in the work of the various tribes. The seven branches of the Sioux Tribe (Mdewakanton, Wahpeton, Wahpekute, Sisseton, Yankton, Yanktonai, and Teton) each had designs which were peculiar to his own group. The white beaded background used by the Sioux gave an effective setting for the distinguished designs of their beadworkers. Throughout the designs distinctive units or figures can be traced. Adherence to these design units or design elements, as they are usually called, have given a stability to the Sioux designs that renders them of special interest. The designs of the Sioux beadworkers, showing as they do, a fidelity to a few patterns long |