Texts of the North American Indian

Writings of E.S. Curtis
Excerpts from "The North American Indian" Set #254, Vol. 3

"I said, 'She has been with us so long that she seems like one of our people and of our family; but I suppose she ought to be sent back if she wishes to go.'

"So my father provided new clothing for her, and three horses, and I gave her my best suit of clothing and my fine racehorse, and at the appointed time she was sent off to her own land."

The typical habitation of the Sioux, as of other plains tribes, from earliest tradition to the disappearance of the buffalo, was the skin lodge, in their language tipi. The tipi of the old days, when dogs were the beasts of burden, was smaller than during the period following the coming of the horse. The covering was of tanned buffalo-hides, and when new was almost white; but with use and from the smoke of the tipi fire it became a rich brown, and was exceedingly soft and flexible. The skin in this state was called wizi, and was much used for leggings and other clothing. To make a small tipi when the dog-travois was the only means of transportation required six or seven hides; but with the broadening of their life by the acquisition of the horse, they made the tipi so much larger that the manufacture of one required fifteen to twenty hides. The tipi-covering was made in sections for convenience in transportation, the strips being fastened together when in place by overlapping the edges and slipping skewer-like pins through eyelets. In preparing the hide it was stretched on the ground and firmly fastened with pegs driven through its edge; then with an adze-like tool -- made with an elkhorn handle and a blade of steel, and before steel was obtained a piece of elk thigh-bone -- the hair was scraped from the hide, which was then flaked down by further scraping to a satisfactory thinness. Spotted Horse Woman said: "I could prepare three hides in a day; that was a hard day's work. Lazy women could not dress so many, and so they had small tipis. My tipi had twenty hides, and it was a fine, big one."

The number of poles required depended on the size of the tipi, twenty-two being necessary for the larger ones. In erecting the tipi four poles were first fastened together near their tops. Two women raised them perpendicularly, and each taking two poles separated their bases until the circumference of the tipi was determined, then the other poles were quickly leaned into place, their bases forming a perfect circle. The sections of skin were next skewered together and the tipi-lifter fastened to the topmost portion of the cover. Now with considerable effort and the assistance of several women the pole with its weight of skins was lifted into place and the covering drawn around the framework. The open ends were fastened together with wooden pins, one woman standing on the shoulders of another in order to reach the highest part of the seam. The bottom was next pinned down and two extra poles were fastened to the outer point of the flaps for use in changing their position when necessary to regulate the draft that carried away the smoke from the fire. A long rawhide rope left hanging from the fastening of the four poles first erected was securely tied to a heavy stake driven into the ground inside the tipi, thus adding to its stability and preventing it from being blown down by severe winds. The lining, a strip of skin extending to about the height of a man, was now attached to the poles inside and fitted securely and closely to the ground, thus leaving an air space between the outer and inner walls. Since the outer covering was not entirely closed at the bottom, perfect ventilation was maintained by means of this air space. In fact for its purpose the skin tipi was an ideal structure -- portable, perfect in ventilation, and rigid in wind-storm.

In addition to the tipis used as dwellings there were many that had a public or ceremonious purpose, each with a name indicative of its use. Most striking of these was a tipi-okehe, placed at the entrance of the village for use as a guest-house for all visitors to the tribe, and as a public meeting-place, where there was always welcome, and food without asking.

The large dwelling-tipi was very roomy. The family and guests sat or lounged about the edge of the circle, the head of the family or special guest occupying the place of honor at the extreme rear. In winter or during stormy weather all food was prepared over the single fire, and during the waking hours there was a large kettle of steaming food, for the visitor might come at any moment, and failure to offer him refreshment would be regarded as the height of inhospitality.

The handicraft of the Sioux was comparatively simple, the preparation of skins being their most important manufacture. From dear-skin they made much of their clothing, as well as pouches called pa, for holding small personal effects; pip-bags, both waka and for every-day use; saddle-blankets for the women; and the carrier for the infant. From the skins of the buffalo were made the tipi-covering , as above mentioned clothing and blankets, and many durable parfleches of rawhide for carrying heavy articles, as well as food, clothing, and household effects.

The decorative art of the Lakota found expression on their deer-skin garments, pipe-bags, saddle-blankets, robes, parfleches, shields, and tipis. Before the coming of traders the designs were worked wholly in dyed porcupine quills; later they obtained beads, which are now used largely, and in a majority of cases the two materials are combined in a single decoration. There seems to be no fixed motif in many of their designs, each woman reading into her art whatever may be prompted by her thoughts, the same figure sometimes meaning as many different things as there are workers. In the accompanying plate are shown three tobacco-pouch pipe-bags. The middle one, a particularly elaborate and beautiful piece of work, is in quills and beads; that to the right is an old specimen worked entirely in quills; while the one to the left is a waka, or sacred, pouch that has been in the family of the Ogalala chief, Slow Bull, for four generations. Its form, patterned after the human figure, is representative of a strange enemy killed in traditionary times in the midst of a buffalo herd, and the tufts of hair are emblematic of the scalp-locks taken. Four pipes, two of which appear on the side shown, represent the four generations since the pouch was originated. The circle of beadwork is symbolic of embryonic life, and the pouch is considered very efficacious during parturitions. The hands represent the enemy killed by each generation, and the red stripes the four winds. Slow Bull's father told him to put on the pouch a beaded hoof for each horse he captured, but when seventeen years of age he took one hundred and seventy horses at one time, so he had embroidered on it as many hoof prints as the pouch would accommodate. The figured margin has no significance; it was designed merely "to look pretty." The braid of sweet-grass is for lighting the sacred pipe on special occasions.

EDWARD S. CURTIS