The Wampanoags in the seventeenth century : $b An ethnohistorical surveyMarten, Catherine
History
The Wampanoags in the seventeenth century : $b An ethnohistorical survey
Marten, Catherine
Indians of North America -- New England -- History -- 17th century; Wampanoag Indians
back, secured by a strap across the chest. A larger version of the
basket stood at the edge of the field, for transporting the harvested
ears of corn back to the house.[167]
Willoughby gives this description of obtaining and processing the
materials for splint baskets:
... small ash, white oak, or other suitable trees, were cut in the
spring. The logs were sometimes soaked in water, although this
was not always necessary. They were then peeled and beaten with
wooden mauls until the annual growth layers were separated one from
another. These were split into various widths and assorted, strips
of uniform size being bound together in bunches or coils.[168]
Baskets were also used to carry the parched corn meal of a traveler
(in place of the deerskin pouch).[169] Large baskets, an alternative
to bags of hemp, were used to store food in the underground storage
pits.[170] One kind of arrow quiver was made of basketry.[171] When
moving from place to place during the year, basketry and soft woven
bags seem likely to have been the containers in which the Wampanoags
carried their baggage.[172]
Very few decorated baskets are known to have survived from this
period. The reports of early observers note that baskets were
decorated in various colors.[173] A basket seen by the Pilgrims is
described as being “... curiously wrought in black and white in
pretty works....”[174] But from such scant information it is possible
to generalize about decorative style.[175]
CLOTHING
The basic dress for both men and women was the breech clout—a length
of deerskin that was looped over a belt in back, passed between the
legs, and looped over a belt again in front.[176] In post-contact
times this garment was sometimes made of cloth.[177] The breech clout
was worn at all times by adults.[178] Female children wore such a
garment or its equivalent from early infancy; male children went
naked until they were ten or twelve years old.[179]
The Wampanoags did not wear a great deal of additional clothing. For
additional protection from insects and cold, the Indians usually wore
a thick coating of animal or vegetable fat.[180] The Wampanoags might
put on leggings when traveling through scratchy undergrowth. Leggings
consisted of two tubes of deerskin, extending from ankle to groin,
fastened into the moccasin at the lower end and held up by attaching
them to the belt.[181] Leggings were worn by both sexes; those worn
by the women may have been somewhat shorter.[182] Leggings were
also worn as a protection against the cold, especially by the older
people.[183]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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