Texts of the North American Indian

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

The Sioux exhibited considerable skill in working red pipestone, or catlinite, into large pipes for ceremonial and common usage. Some were finely inlaid with silver or lead, and in others the bowl and stem were carved in representation of an animal or a bird, the buffalo being the most common subject. While many of the stems were made of pipestone, the majority were of wood, more or less carved, the remainder being beautifully ornamented with porcupine quills or deerskin.

Traditions of the Sioux indicate that they were perhaps the discoverers of the catlinite quarry in Pipestone county, Minnesota, and all such legends and traditions collected by the writer speak of the spot at the time of its discovery as virgin ground, and account for the unusual color by some miracle, rather than describe it as a quarry worked by some mytical people who had mysteriously disappeared -- the explanation to be expected if they had discovered old and abandoned workings.

Among the meany legends relating to this quarry, which to the Indian is a sacred spot and during historical times has been neutral ground, is one of a battle between the Sioux and Winnebago. It was one of those days when the Sioux were still living on "The Lake" and before they had horses. A brave chief organized a war-party, and, crossing the Great River, they journeyed many days to the southwest, and there in a broad, sweeping prairie valley, broken only by a small stream, were encamped a strong party of the Winnebago. The fight was a long and bitter one, but from the beginning victory seemed to favor the Sioux, and with the closing of the day the last of the Winnebago had been killed or had escaped -- all but a single captive, the beautiful daughter of the Winnebago chieftain, spared by order of the Sioux leader, who would have her for his wife. As he approached the young woman she drew a knife and stabbed herself, exclaiming, "I will die rather than be a wife in the camp of the Sioux!" As her life-blood trickled down in a crimson stream it stained the rock a deep red, and thus it has been to this day.

The dress of the woman consisted of a garment made of finely tanned deerskins, which extended from the shoulders to midway of the knee and ankle. Sleeves reaching nearly to the waist were tied at intervals on the under side, ample openings being left at the armpits for the convenience of the mothers in nursing their babies. The sides of the dress were sewn from armpits to bottom. A dress regarded as well-made was fringed at its bottom and sleevs, and finely decorated at the shoulders and arms with porcupine quills, beads, and shells. The one here pictured belonged to a very old woman, wife of the chief Two Strike. It was made by her mother and was worn by herself in the days of her maidenhood, when young warriors were wont to woo her. The little love-charm given her to cast a spell over her youthful suitors is still fastened to the shoulder of the dress.

Leggings extending from knee to foot were worn by the women, and moccasins, ankle-high, usually also beautifully worked with quills and beads. Pendants fashioned from shells were suspended from the ears -- often long strings extending nearly to the waist, and each weighing a quarter of a pound or more. Each ear was decorated at times with two strings of ornaments fastenend in separate piercings, and massive necklaces made of cylinders of bone were hung about the neck. In winter warm outer moccasins of buffalo-skin, with hair inside, were worn, and with a buffalo-robe wrapped closely about the body the Sioux woman was well protected against the severest weather. The hair was parted at the middle from front to back and arranged in two long braids, hanging in front of the shoulders and tied at the ends with a thong and ornaments. In large encampments the lower bodies of the girls were wrapped with deerskin at night-time, that youthful marauders might take no advantage of their heavy sleep of exhaustion entailed by the hard work of the day.

The dress of the men ordinarily consisted of leggings, moccasins, and loin-cloth made of old and soft tipi-covering. The upper part of the body usually was unclothed, but in cold weather was covered wtih a buffalo-robe held in place by a belt. For ceremonial and dress occasions the apparel of the men was much more elaborate, consisting of deerskin leggings embroidered with quills and beads, moccasins finely stitched and decorated, and in addition to the customary loin-cloth a long strip of embroidered deerskin, eight or ten inches wide, inserted under the belt at the back and permitted to trail the ground. An elaborately ornamented pipe-bag was carried in the hand. The hair in a small circle at the crown of the head was braided and allowed to hang down the back, being tied at the end with a small thong. This was the "top-of-head braid" -- what we have come to call the "scalp-lock." From this lock the hair was parted in diverging lines to the temples, and in front was a long bang, kept out of the eyes by wetting and rolling back. The long hair at the sides of the head hung down in two braids wrapped with strips of otter-skin, each with a twisted deerskin thong inside it to give it stiffness.

EDWARD S. CURTIS