Part 3

Deerskin was scraped to remove the flesh, and the tanning process involved working oil into the hide to make it soft and also resistant to water.[137] Thus prepared, the skin used in a pair of leggings could stand to be gotten wet, rung out, hung up and dried by the fire without being harmed by the experience.[138] When a deer was killed during the winter, the thick coat of hair was usually left on the hide.[139] Moose skins were de-haired as a matter of course, according to Morton.[140] Deer and moose skins with the hair removed were decorated by painting or by embroidery.[141] To be a proper skin for wearing, a deerskin had to have the tail left on.[142]

The skins of other game were also used as clothing. Bear, otter, raccoon, beaver, fox and cat skins are mentioned as having been used, although the particulars of their preparation are not recorded.[143] Sometimes the skins of animals not available in the immediate vicinity were traded for from neighboring tribes.[144] The skins of all these animals, including deer, were used also for bedding.[145] Leather was used in the manufacture of bags for carrying fire lighting equipment, tobacco, and parched corn meal. The latter type is described as being long and narrow and carried either slung on the back or tied around the waist.[146]

Contemporary observers do not mention any further uses of leather by the Wampanoags. Among several groups of Indians, such as those who lived by hunting on the Great Plains, leather served not only for clothing, but as the only material available for housing and cordage. Living as they did in the woodlands, the Wampanoags had available a variety of suitable plant material which they used for various kinds of basketry and cordage that served the multitude of purposes served by leather in other regions. Thus among the Wampanoags leather might have been used as the lashings to hold the framing of houses together, or plant fiber might have served this purpose, or both. Such alternatives were available, but it is not known exactly what use the Wampanoags made of them.

=Cordage, Netting, Basketry=: The Wampanoags used the stems and fibers of several plants for containers, house coverings, nets, clothing, etc.[147] Among the plants used were: bulrushes, bent grass (perhaps also other types of grasses), maize husks, “silk grass”, wild hemp (also called Indian hemp and dogbane—_Apocynum cannabenum_), flag leaves, basswood fiber, and the bast of other trees with fine inner bark, such as the linden and slippery elm.[148]

Most cordage was made from wild hemp. Basically, the manufacture of cordage consisted of removing the long fibers from the stems of the plant and joining these by twisting and braiding until the desired thickness and length of cord was obtained. The Indians appeared quite skillful in this craft: “... their cordage is so even, soft, and smooth, that it looks more like silke than hempe....”[149] Wild hemp cordage was used in several ways. It was used to make fishing lines.[150] It was also used for tying hooks onto these lines.[151] Hemp cordage was looped into fishnets.[152] One of these, used for sturgeon, is described as being 30 to 40 feet in length.[153] Large storage bags were made out of this material, in a weaving technique known as twining. These were flat and rectangular in shape; their capacity was five or six bushels. They were used for storing food both in the underground pits and inside the houses.[154] Similar bags were also made out of bast fiber.[155]

Hemp is mentioned as having been used in making baskets, where it probably served as weft strands.[156] Hemp cordage was also used to sew together a certain kind of house covering mat.[157] And it was used, along with grasses for woven capes.[158] Mantles were also woven out of turkey feathers, or the feathers of other birds, and cordage.[159] The feathers were probably twisted in among the hemp strands.[160] Such weaving was done without looms.

Matting was produced by two basic techniques, by sewing or by weaving the component elements together. In sewn mats, flag leaves were sewed together with wild hemp thread, using a bone needle.[161] Woven mats were plaited from bulrushes.[162] These latter were used to line the interior of the house, to sit upon, and for spreading out food to dry.[163] Matting was an item that came in for extensive use in the daily lives of the Wampanoags. Besides being a building material, it was used to line storage pits; it also lined or covered their graves.

Basketry was another important item made by the Wampanoags, although their use of basketry was not as extensive as in certain other North American Indian groups. Basketry everywhere serves what is basically a container function, and among the Wampanoags there were available pottery, birch bark boxes, pouches of leather, wooden dishes, and later the metal pots and kettles brought by Europeans—all of which could carry out the job of holding something.

Baskets were made in a number of sizes and shapes, of several different materials, and of varying fineness depending upon the purpose to be served.[164] There were two techniques for weaving baskets, twining and plaiting, though there were probably enough variations upon these basic techniques that not all baskets looked alike to the casual observer. Twined basketry was the more common type at the time that the Europeans arrived in New England. The baskets of “Hempe and Rushes” that Wood describes were probably made by this technique.[165] The manufacture of twined basketry involves wrapping a horizontal weft element, the hemp in this case, around what is usually a more rigid warp, the bulrushes. The basketry made by the plaited technique is what is meant by the term “splint basketry”. In this case, both warp and weft are equally rigid “splints” and are combined by placing each alternately over the other so that, in the most basic pattern, a checkerboard effect results. Basketry made by this technique became more popular during the historic period, and eventually this was the only type made by the Indians in the New England area. At the time New England was being colonized, the main use of splint basketry was in the processing of corn. Square sieves for sifting corn meal were made by the plaiting technique, with varying grades of mesh to sort out ground and hulled corn for various uses.[166] Collecting baskets for harvesting corn were also made by this technique. The basket was worn strapped to the 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]

Skin capes were a common item of clothing for both sexes.[184] Women’s capes, about twice as long as those worn by men, are reported to have hung down behind like a train.[185] Capes for summer wear were of deerskin—either worn hair side out or made of de-haired skins. For winter wear the hair was left on and turned to the inside.[186] The skins of Beaver, otter, racoon, bear, and fox—the smaller ones being sewed together—were also used for winter mantles.[187] Mantles made of turkey feathers were mentioned previously.[188]

Champlain reported that Indians on Cape Cod (probably Nauset) wore capes woven of grass and hemp fibers.[189] These extended to the thighs and may have been worn in summer as a protection against insects. Or, perhaps they were for special occasions. One fragment of such a mantle, excavated along with a burial near Manchester, Massachusetts, was made of twilled bast fiber.[190] The lower edge of the garment was fringed.[191]

The skin mantle was usually worn passed under the right arm, brought over the left shoulder, and the two ends fastened.[192] For traveling or other activity the garment was bound tight against the body with a belt.[193] In very cold weather the exposed arm was covered with a detachable fur sleeve which was tied on.[194] In the absence of the sleeve, the mantle might be allowed to hang loose, and the wearer alternately cover whichever shoulder was exposed to the wind as he walked.[195]

Both men and women wore moccasins. The preferred material for these was moose hide, but in its absence, deerskin served.[196] Everyone went barefoot in the summer, but they usually carried their moccasins slung on their backs in case of having to travel over very rough ground.[197]

Contact with Europeans brought changes in the style and the material of some Indians’ clothing. Indians were encouraged to adopt English styles of dress as part of the process of their conversion to Christianity. Many, however, found the European style of clothing a nuisance. Wood says: “... their chief reasons they render why they will not conforme to our English apparell, are, because their women cannot wash them when they bee soyled, and their means will not reach to buy new when they have done with their old; and they confidently beleeve, the English will not be so liberall as to furnish them upon gifture: therefore they had rather goe naked than be lousie....”[198] Often, articles of English clothing were worn for special occasions.[199] Some Indians began selling all their skins to European traders and using cloth to make their traditional garments.[200] The cloth which they preferred was a blanket material called “duffils” or “trucking cloth”.[201] Whatever the style and material of their clothing, however, the Wampanoags preferred to wear only the loincloth when they were in their own houses.[202]

=Ornament=: Copper or brass, breast-plates, necklaces, bandoliers, etc. are often mentioned by explorers who visited the New England coast prior to the establishment of permanent settlements.[203] A change in fashion apparently took place among the Indians of southeastern New England during the early historic period, however, for colonial writers describe the same types of ornaments as being made of shell.

Breast-plates were solid sheets of copper or brass hammered thin and flat.[204] They were about a foot in length and half that wide.[205] Sheet copper was also made into tubular beads. These were about four inches long and a quarter of an inch in diameter. They were made by bending the sheet of metal around a stick from which the pith had been removed to form a hole for stringing.[206] Tubular beads were strung together (long axes parallel) to make bandoliers. Bandoliers were worn diagonally across the chest or sometimes as belts around the waist.[207] Similar fillets made of shorter copper beads were probably worn as headbands.[208] Tubular copper beads strung end to end were worn as necklaces.[209] Gorgets and pendant earrings were also made out of copper and brass.[210]

By the time the Pilgrims arrived, shell ornaments apparently had replaced the metal ornaments which earlier chroniclers said were worn by everyone, for none of the colonial writers mentions Indians wearing copper or brass ornaments.[211] Most shell ornament was based on beadwork, although shell, along with bone and stone was used for ear pendants—cut-outs of birds, fish, and other animals.[212] By at least 1647 wampum was the most popular style of shell beads.[213]

Wampum served as “money” and as ornament. It was introduced into Plymouth colony as an item of exchange in 1627 by the Dutch, for although it was common among Indians to the south, it was virtually unknown as an item of trading value to Indians around Plymouth and farther north.[214] Important people in the tribe had a few ornaments of wampum prior to 1627. Altham describes Massasoit in 1623 as wearing a belt of shell beads that were probably wampum.[215] After a slow start in Plymouth, wampum increased in popularity until it was common to see Indians wearing bracelets, necklaces, headbands, and belts, woven in various designs of small purple and white beads.[216] Collars, caps, and ear pendents were also made of wampum.[217] The beads were strung end to end as well as being woven in bands.[218]

The wampum made in southern New England was fashioned from the shells of the quahog, or hard-shelled clam (_Venus mercenaria_).[219] Bead blanks were first roughed out from the whole shell then drilled with a stone (later metal—introduced by Europeans) drill. Beads were then strung together and ground into their final shape with an abrasive stone.[220]

There were other, less popular, styles of shell beads and beadwork.[221] Sometimes small discoidal beads (probably quahog and periwinkle) were used instead of the tubular wampum for beadwork, as necklaces, bracelets, and hair ornaments. Like wampum, these beads were white and purple in color.[222] There were also large tubular shell beads that were strung for necklaces.[223]

Bone and seeds were also used for beads,[224] and early explorers report necklaces of variously colored stones.[225]

Besides jewelry, the Wampanoags used painting and tattooing as means of personal adornment. Tattooing was done by two techniques. A sharp instrument was used to pierce and lift a small area of skin, and black pigment was inserted into the wound. By repeating these small incisions close together, decorative lines were formed. This form of tattooing was done on the cheeks; the patterns were zoomorphic “... as Beares, Deares, Mooses, Wolves, &c., some of fowls, as of Eagles, Hawkes, &c....”[226] The other technique of tattooing was accomplished by “branding” with a hot iron. Geometrical shapes were applied to the arms and chest by this method.[227]

Body painting was done in red, yellow, white, and black. Red powder was sometimes put onto the hair.[228] The body and hair were prepared for painting by a thorough greasing; the grease provided a bond for the pigment.[229] Different colors might be used on various sections of the face, or a single color might be used for the whole face.[230] Both men and women wore paint. Paint was worn for mourning, for war ceremonial or festive occasions, and for games.[231] Warriors used lurid coloring to make them appear more terrible to the enemy.[232] Painting the face black, with soot and ashes, was a symbol of mourning.[233] There were undoubtedly many other associations between styles of painting and specific events or social groups, but they were not recorded by seventeenth century observers.

=Hairdressing=: Of hairdressing, Lechford reported: “They cut their haire of divers formes, according to their Nation or people so that you may know a people by their cut....”[234] There was also variation in hairstyle within the social group. An unmarried girl could be distinguished from a married women by her hair style.[235] At marriage, the women’s hair was cut off, and until her hair grew back she wore a covering on her head.[236] A young man who was not yet a warrior could be identified by his short haircut.[237] Further variation noted among the adults of the same tribe may mean that various kin groups used distinctive styles of hairdressing.[238] Long hair was highly prized, and wearing the hair in a tight “pony tail” was said to make it grow faster.[239] Hairdressing was a daily activity which involved oiling and, according to one writer, dyeing.[240]

Probable Wampanoag hairstyles include the following: hair cut short into bangs in the front, the remainder falling free to the shoulders; hair braided into four braids with part of this knotted behind, and with feathers and other sorts of ornaments stuck into the knot; hair shaved from the front and sides of the head, the remainder left long and made into a knot with feathers in it.[241]

Various forms of ornament, frequently feathers, were an integral part of certain hairstyles. Turkey and eagle feathers are mentioned specifically for this purpose.[242] Single feathers might be stuck into a knotted portion or otherwise intertwined with the hair.[243] Feathers were sometimes joined fan-shape and put into the hair. Fox tails and other fur were also used for hair ornament. Strips of deer hides, dyed red, were tied on, in the manner of a cock’s comb.[244] Other ornaments included ribbons of European manufacture and ornamental combs carved from antler.[245]

Specific information on female styles of hairdress is slight. Champlain describes one style which was a combination of free-falling hair in back and various braids for the rest.[246] Beyond this, there are no descriptions that relate to the Wampanoags.

Sources are contradictory in the subject of facial hair. Some writers report that Indians in this region generally despised and plucked out what little facial hair they had.[247] Another writer of the same period relates that these Indians were at pains to preserve their own thin beards and to add to them by fastening on animal hair.[248]

EXPLOITATIVE ACTIVITIES

=Lumbering and Forest Products=: Prior to contact with Europeans the Wampanoags used stone tools for lumbering. Large trees felled with these primitive implements were used for the manufacture of dugout canoes.[249] Birch bark, another product of the forest, provided the material for house coverings and containers of various sorts as well as material for another type of canoe. As the range of the canoe birch (_B. papyrifera_) had its southern limit at Cape Anne on the immediate coast, the use of birch bark by the Wampanoags was probably not so extensive as that of some of their neighbors.[250] Nevertheless, by trade and by seeking out individuals of the species that grew beyond their range, birch bark was obtained and used as an alternative material for the items mentioned above.

Carved wooden bowls and spoons are said to have been a craft specialty of the Wampanoags. Burls were selected for carving material in order to avoid the problem of splitting along the grain when an item was subjected to repeated wetting and drying. Small objects such as fish hooks were sometimes made of wood, and there were other more obvious uses such as poles for house frames, arrowshafts and handles for tools. Bast fiber (inner bark) was used for various woven items. A red dye was made from pine bark.[251] Turpentine and pitch were also products of the pines.[252]

=Mining and Quarrying=: Both soapstones for bowls and pipes and native copper for ornaments were obtained aboriginally by New England Indian groups. So far as is known, however, the Wampanoags did none of the extraction of these materials themselves. They obtained either the materials or the finished products through trade.[253]

Pigments were probably obtained at various local outcroppings. Limonite furnished yellow; hematite served for some of the reds. The stone used for tools and weapons—quartz and slate—was also locally occurring material.[254] Clay for potting was available in the Plymouth area.[255]

PROCESSING OF BASIC MATERIALS

There is documentary evidence on the manufacture of only a few of the articles fashioned by the Indians out of the products of their environment. In most cases this evidence is fragmentary. What is available is discussed below:

=Stonecarving=: Both pipes and bowls were carved out of soapstone. As far as is known, most of this work was done by the Narragansetts in Rhode Island; their products were traded into the Plymouth area. Bowls of soapstone were produced wholly or in part at the quarry where the raw material was obtained. Working with picks and chisels of harder stone (later, presumably, with metal tools) the craftsman would rough out the general shape of the bowl, bottom side up, while it was still attached to the parent block. Then he would begin chipping away underneath the bowl and by inserting a wedge remove it from the quarry. The inside of the bowl was then hollowed out with smaller stone adzes and chisels.[256]

Soapstone pipes required considerable skill to manufacture, owing to their small size. Some of these were elaborately ornamented with carved figures, but authorities are still not sure whether the more elaborate pipes were locally made or traded into the Narragansett territory from elsewhere.[257] Shaping and drilling were originally done with stone tools, but steel drills were later used in pipe manufacture.[258]

=Metallurgy=: The Indians learned to cast metal from the English. Pewter, brass, and presumably lead (for shot) were cast into ornaments, buttons, ammunition, and gun parts.[259]

Buttons and other small ornaments were cast out of pewter using one-piece moulds carved from soft stone. Finishing was done by trimming and grinding away the rough edges. The eyes of buttons were made by trimming the metal with a knife.[260]

=Woodworking=: The Wampanoags were noted for their skill in woodworking. They made dugout canoes which might be as much as fifty feet long.[261] To make a canoe a suitable tree was first selected then laboriously felled with a stone axe. (During historic times metal tools came to perform this function and others in the process of manufacture.)[262] Initial hollowing out of the log was done by burning.[263] Either the wood was set afire or hot stones were placed on it.[264] The fire was carefully controlled; the idea was to remove the inside and leave the outside intact on three sides.[265] The process was a slow one, taking some ten to twelve days.[266] When the interior had been burned out as much as possible, the job of hollowing and smoothing was finished with shell scrapers.[267] The outside was hewn into shape with stone hatchets and the whole craft was finished by sanding it with an abrasive stone.[268] A similar procedure on a smaller scale was used to fashion wooden bowls and spoons and other such utensils. A bowl was first hollowed out by burning and then smoothed to a high polish with abrasive stones.[269]