Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/96

 36 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI they had some cleared land. Here, usually in April, they planted maize and squashes, or pumpkins and beans. When this planting- was made, they then set out on a hunting ex- pedition which lasted for two or three months. Returning usually in August they harvested their crops which, during their absence, had been uncultivated. The corn was usually shelled and stored in pots or hol- low trunks of trees, the squashes and pump- kins were dried, the latter being cut into long strips and hung in the upper part of their houses. Beans were also kept by being shelled and stored. The crop harvested and stored for winter, the Indians were accust- omed to depart again for another hunting ex- pedition. The meat procured on these expe- ditions, such as was not immediately used, was dried or jerked, or else was partly cooked and covered with grease from the fat of some animal, usually the bear or deer. Tlie skins which they secured were prepared for trading at the nearest post, for beads, hatchets, calico, powder, guns, or whiskey. This hunt lasted until about January when the Indians returned to their villages to re- main during the colder wealther of winter, living principally upon the stores of food laid up during the summer. With the return of spring they engaged in still another hunt, coming back to the practice of their rude agriculture. The houses of the Osages were rude cabins, not unlike a tent in shape and appearance but constructed of poles and matting. Two forks each about twenty feet high were stuck into the ground, a ridge pole laid across these, smaller forks put up on each side, and a framework of poles arranged to these, furnishing a support for the mats. These mats were often woven of rushes or reeds, sometimes skins or bark took the place of the matting, or even sod was sometimes used. Of course not all the houses were alike. Some of them were conical in shape. All were, without exception, rude in appearance, and greatly lacking in comfort. None pos- sessed a chimney, the fire being kindled on the earth floor in the center of the house, or upon a hearth of stones, and the smoke was allowed to escape through a hole in the cen- ter of the roof. The furniture was exceedingly limited, con- sisting principally of beds. These were made of skins or mats placed upon a shelf built along the walls. The beds served as seats in the day time, though the Indians, frequently, or most often, sat on the ground or on mats placed as a sort of carpet. Their household implements were those common to most American Indians and consisted of pottery vessels, stone knives, stones for grinding or pounding corn, and similar utensils, most if not all of them the product of the skill and industry of the Indian women. The men felt it to be beneath their dignity as war- riors and hunters to engage in manual labor of any kind and deputed practically all of it, including the building and care of the house, the construction of the necessary im- plements and the cultivation of the fields, to the women. These women were not uncomely in youth, but their life of toil and hardship brought upon them a premature old age. One custom concerning the women of the Osages is noted by many travellers among them and that is the way in which the married woman was distinguished from the unmarried. The In- dian maiden was accustomed to bestow great attention upon the arrangement and adorn- ment of her hair. It was arranged in two braids and ornamented with strings of wam- pum and such other beautiful objects as