Pueblo House with Kivas in Foreground
From a Photograph
Indian squaws were skillful in the making of buckskin suits for their braves. The handsomely embroidered moccasins were and are now good specimens of [[8]]woman’s work and love for beauty of coloring and design. Each tribe had its own pattern and shape, differing so much from those of other tribes that a footprint might announce an enemy in war time.
The Indians are still noted trappers, and their squaws know well how to tan and dress the skins of animals. Fish-hooks were made of bone or flint, and spear points were of the same materials, but they were very sharp and with them the Indians caught many fish.
Their roving habits as hunters gave them little time for house-building, and so their homes were simply tents made of strips of bark or, better yet, of large buffalo or deer hides, neatly sewed together for this purpose. These teepees and wigwams were easily put up or removed, and were a good shelter.
The Village Indians, or Pueblos of Arizona, still build themselves houses of adobe or unburnt brick. As the Pueblos were and are now less warlike than the roving tribes which live in tent-like houses, they have had time to invent many useful things.
The Pueblos weave excellent woolen blankets of gay stripes and a coarse cloth for wearing apparel. They make water-tight baskets and dishes of fiber, and these are often exchanged with the Tent Indians for dried meat and other food.
The Village Indians have for centuries planted and cared for maize, pumpkins, beans, and other vegetables. [[9]]Turkeys are raised for food, and their feather fibers are woven into cloth. Eagles are caged and raised for their long feathers, which are held sacred.
In the ruined houses of the cliff-dwellers of Texas and Arizona fragments of cloth woven from cotton and other substances have been found. No white man taught this ancient people these arts of weaving.