  AN INDIAN ENCAMPMENT A AN Indian encampment for your very own! A wigwam, camp-fire, Indian travois, blanket-weaving loom, gorgeous feathered head-dress, bow, arrows and shield, tomahawk, wampum, and a little copper-colored papoose in its funny stiff cradle, hanging on a tree entirely alone! Does not all that sound delightful? The complete scene can actually be made to appear in your room at home. Take for The Ground a common pastry-board or any kind of board of the desired size—about nineteen by twenty-six inches—and for grass cover one side and the four edges of the board with a piece of light-green cotton flannel stretched tight, fleece side up, and tacked to the under side of the board. Sprinkle sand and small stones on the grass at one side of the wigwam, to show where the grass has been worn off by the tramping of the Indians, the bronco pony, and the dog, for all Indians possess dogs of some description. If you have a toy dog of suitable size, stand him by the fire where he will be comfortable. Before the red men owned horses, a dog was always used to drag the travois, and to this day the braves care as much for a dog as does any pale-faced boy—which drawing Fig. Now that we have our camping-ground, the first thing we must do is to Put Up the Wigwam for shelter. Draw an eight-inch diameter circle on the grass near one end of the ground. Fold a strip of paper lengthwise, stick a pin through one end of the paper and drive it down into the board where you wish the centre of the circle, push the point of a lead pencil through the other end of the paper four inches from the pin; keep the pin steady while you move the pencil around many times until a circle appears plainly on the grass (Fig. 167). drawing Fig. Cut twelve slender sticks eleven inches long and sharpen the heavy end of each into a flat point (Fig. 168). The sticks must be straight, for they are wigwam-poles. Tie three poles together two inches from their tops and spread out the sharpened ends at nearly equal distances apart on the circle line; mark the spots where they rest and bore gimlet-holes in each place through the cloth into the wood. Enlarge each hole with a penknife and insert the poles, pushing the sharpened points down firmly into the holes (Fig. 169). Add seven more poles around the circle, keeping the spaces between all about even. Sink these last poles in the ground as you did the first three; then tie the tops together drawing Fig. drawing Fig. Make the cover of unbleached or brown-tinted cotton cloth cut like Fig. 170. Mark the curved lower edge with the home-made compass used for the grass circle. Fasten the pin and pencil in the paper strip nine and one-half inches apart; draw almost a Now comes the fun of decorating the cover. Pin the cloth out flat and smooth, and paint in brilliant red, yellow, black, green, white, and blue the designs given in Fig. 170. When finished, fit the cover over the wigwam-poles and with short, slender sticks pin the fronts together. Peg the lower edge down to the ground with short black pins and slide a pole in each pocket of the smoke-flaps E and E (Fig. 170). Bring the poles around and cross them at the back of the wigwam. As you do this you will exclaim with delight at the result, for the little wigwam will be very realistic. In front of your wigwam or tepee Build a Make-Believe Fire of bits of orange and scarlet tissue-paper mixed in with short twigs, and then you must manufacture something to cook in. Bore a hole in the ground near the fire and fit in the fire-pole, making it slant over to one side and hang directly above the fire. Place a stone over the embedded end of the pole to keep it firm. Suspend an acorn kettle or any little kettle of the right size for the Indians to use on the pole and the camp will begin to look cosey for the red men to enjoy. Hunt up a jointed doll about five inches high, paint it copper color, ink its hair, and the doll will be a fairly Good Indian. If you can find a Zulu doll of the required size, with long, straight black hair, and give him a wash of dull red paint, you can turn him into a fine Indian. Failing these dolls, make an Indian doll of dull red raffia or cloth. This you drawing Fig. drawing Fig. Real chiefs like Turning Eagle, Swift Dog, Crazy Bull, and others, wore gorgeous feather headdresses, and gloried in the strange war bonnets, not because they were gay and startling, but for the reason that each separate feather in the head-band meant that the owner had performed a brave deed of which the tribe was proud, and the greater the number of brave deeds the greater the number of feathers; consequently the longer the bonnet-trail. This explains the real meaning of the common expression, "A feather in your cap." drawing Fig. drawing Fig. Your Indian must be a mighty chief and will need a very long-trailing War Bonnet. Cut the head-dress like Fig. 172 of white paper. Paint all the paper horse-hair tips on the paper eagle feathers red, the tops of the feathers black, and the band in which they are fastened yellow, red, and green, leaving white spaces between the colors (Fig. 173). Cut out, then turn the end of the band F (Fig. 172) until the loop fits the Indian's head, and glue the end of the loop on the strip Red men are not fond of remaining long in one place, and naturally your Indian will soon want to break camp and carry his belongings elsewhere. Help him prepare by making A Travois. You will need four slender poles, two fifteen and one-half inches long, one five and one-half and another six and one-half inches long. Bind the six-and-a-half-inch pole across the two long poles four inches from their heavy ends; fasten the five-and-a-half-inch pole across the long poles two and one-half inches above the first cross-piece. Instead of thongs of buffalo hide, such as the real red man would use, take narrow strips of light-brown cloth to form the rude net-work over the space bounded by the four poles. Tie the top ends of the long poles together (Fig. 174), then tie the travois to the horse, as in Fig. 175. In most of these conveyances the thongs are tied across one way only, from short pole to short pole, forming a ladder-like arrangement. drawing Fig. drawing Fig. drawing Fig. A chief must always have his Calumet, or "pipe of peace," to smoke and pass around the council circle, when all the leaders of the different tribes meet to talk over important matters concerning the welfare of their people. Real calumets are generally large and of goodly length, some of them being four feet long. They are made of dull-red stone, which, when first cut from the large mass, is soft enough to be carved out with a knife; later the pipe becomes hard and capable of receiving a polish. But as the red stone is not within our reach, we must use dull red-colored straw for the calumet. Soak the straw in hot water to render it less brittle. Then cut a three-inch length piece; make a hole in it a short distance from one end (Fig. 176, G) and insert a three-quarter inch length of straw for the pipe bowl (Fig. 176, H). For the mouthpiece take a The Tomahawk must not be forgotten. Soak a stick two and one-half inches long in hot water; when it is pliable, split an end down one inch, no more (Fig. 178, J), and in true Indian fashion bind a stone hatchet (Fig. 178, K) between the split sides of the stick handle with thongs of hide. Whittle the little hatchet from a piece of wood, cover it with glue, then with sand. When dry it will be difficult for others to believe that the implement is not of real stone. Instead of thongs use thread (Fig. 179).
The Chieftain's Shield is of hide taken from the neck of the bull bison; the piece must be twice the required size for a finished shield to allow for the necessary shrinkage. Over a fire built in a hole in the ground the skin is stretched and pegged down. When heated, it is covered with a strong glue made from the hoofs and joints of the bison, which causes the hide to contract and thicken. As this process goes on the pegs are loosened and again adjusted drawing Fig. drawing Fig. drawing Fig. Bison hide is something you cannot obtain, so take writing paper for the shield. Cut it into a circle an inch and a half in diameter, with an extension for the handle (Fig. 180). Glue the free end of the handle on the opposite side of the back of the shield. Make ten paper eagle feathers (Fig. 181), hang seven on the bottom of the shield with red thread, after first drawing Fig. The Indian makes his Arrow-heads of triangular flakes of flint chipped from a stone held between his knees and struck with a rude stone hammer. The pieces knocked off are carefully examined, and only those without flaws are kept. Stones for arrow-heads must be very hard. When found, the red men bury them in wet ground and build fires over them, causing the stones to show all cracks and checks. This enables the arrow-maker to discard those unfitted for his work. Though you cannot make a real flint arrow-head, you can manufacture a toy one. Take a piece of stiff pasteboard and cut it like Fig. 183. Let the length be a trifle over half an inch. Cover the arrow-head all over with a light coat of glue, then dip it in sand, and the arrow-head will come out as if made of stone. Were it actually hard stone and large size you would be obliged, as the Indians do, to trim and shape more perfectly the point and edges of the arrow-head. You would hold a pad of buckskin in your left hand to protect it from the sharp flint, and on your right hand would be a piece of dressed For The Shaft hunt up a piece of wood strong and straight. Cut it three inches in length, remove the bark and scrape the wood until it is about the thickness of an ordinary match. Notch one end and split the other end down one-quarter of an inch, insert the arrow-head (Fig. 184), then bind the shaft and head together with thread (Fig. 185), in place of the wet sinew an Indian would use for a real arrow, after he had first fastened the head in the shaft with glue from buffalo hoofs.
Cut three paper feather strips (Fig. 186), each an inch in length, paint black bands on them, bend at dotted line and glue the feathers on the shaft one-quarter of an inch from the notch, allowing them to stand out at angles equally distant from each other (Fig. 187). Bind the Almost any kind of wood that has a spring will make A Good Bow for your little Indian. Cut the piece of wood four inches long and an eighth of an inch wide. Scrape it flat on one side and slightly rounded on the other, notch the stick at each end, wind the centre with red worsted and paint the bow in bright hues (Fig. 189). Tie a strong thread in one notch and bring it across to the other notch; tighten until it bends the bow centre half an inch from the straight thread; tie the thread around the notch (Fig. 190). Now try the wee weapon; hold it vertically and shoot the little arrow into the air. It will fly very swiftly away, landing many yards from where you stand.
Make the bow case (Fig. 192) of ordinary wrapping paper cut like Fig. 191, three and a half inches long and two and a half inches wide. Dress the jointed doll squaw in a fringed Chamois-Skin Gown; drawing Fig. fold the skin and let one half form the front, the other half the back. Cut the garment like the half N, in Fig. 193, stitch the sides together, stitch the under part of the sleeves together and fringe both sleeves and bottom of the dress (O, Fig. 193). Belt the gown in with scarlet worsted and load the squaw down with strands of colored beads; then seat her on the grass (Fig. 194) while you make the primitive loom for her to use in weaving one of the famous Navajo Blankets. Paint a two by four inch piece of white cotton cloth with a blanket design in red and black, with white drawing Fig. Two inches above the blanket attach a six-inch pole to the board with pins and use a coarse needle and heavy thread to make the warp. Run the thread through the drawing Fig. drawing Fig. drawing Fig. Carry the thread along the pole a short distance, loop it over (Q, Fig. 197) and bring the thread down through the right side of the blanket. Take a long stitch and again carry the thread up over the pole. Continue until the warp is entirely across the blanket. Pin another pole six and a drawing Fig. Make the loom frame of two seven-inch poles four and a half inches apart and crossed at the top by another seven-inch pole, the three firmly tied together and made to stand erect on the grass by planting the two upright poles in holes bored through the cloth grass into the board ground. Hang the loom on this frame by winding a narrow strip of cloth loosely around the top of the frame and top of loom (Fig. 194). drawing Fig. Find a stout, short-branched twig for The Tree (Fig. 199). Sharpen the bottom and drive it into a hole in A solemn Little Papoose bound in its stiff cradle is one of the drollest things imaginable. Paint a small doll copper color, make its hair black, and bind the baby in a cradle cut from brown pasteboard (Fig. 200). Cut along heavy line and bend forward the tongue R along the dotted line, bring the strap S across and glue the end on the under side of the cradle; then line the cradle with white tissue-paper and place the Indian child on it; spread a piece of vivid red tissue-paper over the infant, bringing the sides of the cover on the under side of the cradle, where you must glue them. Fold over the lower end of the paper and glue that also on the back of the cradle. Paint the cradle and portions of the cover white, green, black, and yellow (Fig. 200); then hang the cradle and baby
drawing Fig. The red men use queer money which they call drawing Fig. Wampum. It is made of shells found usually along the borders of rivers and lakes. The Indians cut the thick part of the shell into cylinders about an inch long, bore holes lengthwise through the centres and string them like beads on fine, strong sinews (Fig. 201), but this money is not as pretty as glass beads, for it resembles pieces of common clay pipe stems. A certain number of hand-breadths of wampum will buy a gun, a skin, a robe, or a horse, and when presented by one chief to another the wampum means good-will and peace. Of course, you will want to supply your Indians with their own kind of money. You can string the wampum into a necklace and decorate the strand with eagle claws, bright beads, and tufts of gay worsted. Find some beads much smaller, but as near as possible in color and form to real wampum, and string them with tiny eagle claws made of wood cut like Fig. 202, only smaller. Paint the claws very dark gray, almost black, and bore a hole through the heavy end with a hat-pin heated red hot. The claws will then string easily and give quite a savage appearance to the necklace (Fig. 203). Let the colored worsted tufts, which must take the place of hair, be bright-red, and the strands of round drawing Fig. Indians when they cannot obtain beads use gayly colored porcupine quills for their embroidery. You need not try the embroidery, but be sure to make the entire Indian encampment with everything pertaining to it. |
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