Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/98

 38 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI great importance to the pipe. It formed a part of all their great meetings, and no treaty was concluded and no formal act re- lating to the tribe ever performed without recourse to the pipe which was passed from hand to hand and smoked by each in turn. Their clothing was made from skins, prin- cipally deer-skins, which were tanned by the women and made into garments for both men and women. They also possessed the art of weaving, and utilized for this purpose lint from the bark of the mulberry, the elm, or the paw-paw. Sometimes they wove a sort of cloth from feathers, and after they began to secure cloth from the white people they would frequently unravel an old piece of cloth and use the thread again. The men usually wore the breech clout made of skins, leggings, and moccasins. The women wore a short skirt, leggings, and moccasins, and sometimes a covering for the upper part of the body, either a shirt made of their cloth or a blanket. They adorned themselves with feathers, worked various patterns into their cloth, wore shells and beads, and, as far as their conditions allowed, exhibited all the signs of vanity of dress found among civilized people. The men of the tribe were fond of paint. They sometimes painted the entire body, staining it with colors derived from clay. The face was especially treated and was sometimes streaked and painted in a dreadful and hideous manner. This was true of all who went upon the warpath. Indeed the hideous painting of the face was usually a sign of war, though some- times indulged in during their celebrations of various kinds. The Indian moccasin deserves a more ex- tended notice than any other part of their wearing apparel. Perhaps no other footgear ever devised, by either savage or civilized man, was quite so well adapted to the pecu- liar purposes for which it was intended, as this moccasin. Made of tanned deer-skin, it was soft and pliable, enabling its wearer to pass with wonderful celerity and absence of noise through the woods and over the rude trails, and yet it was durable and lasting. Its superiority is shown in the fact that all white men who have passed much time among the Indians have adopted it in preference to the shoe or boot of civilization. The government of the Osages was a patriarchal despotism. The leader was fre- quently, though not always, succeeded by his son. This right of heredity was often dis- regarded and never was vested exclusively in the eldest son. In fact they refused to re- gard the right of primogeniture. The chief was. first of all, the leader in war. He was usually the most daring and ruthless of the warriors of the tribe. His retention of the leadership depended upon his hold upon the respect and confidence of his fellows. This could not long be retained, in such a state of society as existed among the Indians, by any one not recognized as brave and skilful in war. The chief was supposed to exercise authority over his warriors in time of peace, also, but this authority was mainly shadowy and vague. The real fact of the matter was that the character of the Indians of almost every tribe prevented anything like a firm government. They could not submit them- selves to the rule of anyone else, even though he was chosen by themselves for that pur- pose. It was this fatal defect, coupled with their unreasonable delight in war that ren- dered all the resistance of the Indians to the encroachment of the white men so futile. Even the great chiefs, such as Pontiac and Tecumseh, found their influence often set at naught and their plans wrecked by the per-