Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/208

 tastefully fringed and shagged at the skirt, and these mantles, like the mantles of the warriors, were generally embroidered with white beads and links of copper, or they were beautifully painted with the images of beasts, birds, tortoises, fruits, and flowers. Very frequently the mantles were made of the feathers of ducks, swans, geese, and turkeys, so skilfully woven that the threads uniting them were concealed, and these feathers were dyed red or blue as fancy suggested. In the expeditions which were sent out to hunt, or to gather wild fruit, or the grass from which the mats were manufactured, individuals of both sexes put on leather breeches and stockings, secured by strings to the waist as a shield against the weeds and shrubs.

The king had no characteristic dress. On one occasion when visited by the English, Powhatan had donned a mantle of raccoon skins fashioned in a manner to retain the tails, which hung down around his body. The dress of the priest was still more conspicuous; he wore a short mantle composed of the furs of the weasel and other vermin, with the tails still attached, and the stuffed skins of