Native omen
gathered edible roots and berries such as chokecherries and saskatoons
whenever they were available but the main source of food came from hunting,
especially buffalo hunting. The Plains Cree and Ojibwa added
often fish to the
diet, but
fish was
unimportant elsewhere on the Plains. Animal-skin disguises were used
to get close enough to the game for the effective use of bows and arrows.
Buffalo herds were driven into pounds or corrals and killed, or were
stampeded
over steep cliffs . While acquisition of the horse
greatly facilitated buffalo hunting, muzzle loading guns proved often
inferior to bow
and arrows, which were given up only after shorter breech loaders were
introduced by the 1860s.
When men hunted, women were busy processing the results of this activity,
particularly in preserving through drying meat. Some meat was cooked and
eaten immediately, but most was sliced and sun-dried for the winter, or
ground and mixed with fat and berries to make pemmican. Buffalo hides were
used for
robes, tent covers, moccasins and shields; tools and utensils were made
of the bison's horns, hooves, hair, tail, bones and sinew; buffalo dung
was used
as a fuel on the treeless plains. Skins of antelope, deer and elk were preferred
in the manufacture of clothing: breechclout, leggings and shirts for men,
long dresses and leggings for women. |
Blackfoot Camp - Drying Buffalo Meat
|
