siOBX; - Smithsonian Institution

42 BUEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 103
done a certain length of time after the hide had been removed from
the animal, not while it was still green and flabby or after it had
hardened. When it had been worked for a time in the sun, it
was moved into the shade and worked as long again. This was to
make it supple and bring out the grain, and the process required from
three to five hours. When they were through and the skin was fairly
dry they rolled it up and put it into a shack. If it got too damp
thej^ brought it back into the sunshine and sometimes they had to
work it again.
Deerhide strings were used to fasten the ends of ball sticks after
they had been bent over. The strings forming the basket at the end
of the ball stick in which the ball was held were made of raccoon
skin because the cords required were shorter. These raccoon skin
strings were formerly sold for 15 cents apiece and the deerhide
strings for 25 cents apiece. A lot of hide was usually cut up for
these purposes at one time.
A large pouch was made of skins of otter, beaver, raccoon, or fox,
and in this were carried grease, gun wadding and patching, which
was put over a bullet like wadding and had to be of a certain thick-
ness to go down through the gun barrel. Caps were also carried in
this pouch if there was no place provided for them in the gun, and a
number of small instruments, the time sticks of an officer to remind
him of an appointment, and many other things besides. The doctor
carried such a pouch all the time for his herbs and powders. The
biggest pouch of all was made of the entire hide of a beaver. The
head served as the opening and it was bent over between the rest of
the pouch and the wearer's body, the tail hanging down at the side.
One could usually tell to which band of Choctaw an Indian
belonged by his pouch, though they sometimes wore the same kind.
The Bok Chito and Turkey Creek bands used otter skin. The Mok-
lasha band employed skins of fox, wolf, and beaver. This last
was never worn by the Bok Chitos.
There was a small pouch for powder and shot slung on the right
side during a hunt so that it would be handy. This was generally
made of a gourd shaped like a citron on which the skin of an otter,
raccoon, or mink had been shrunk and which had afterwards been
hardened. Another kind was made by sewing the same kinds of
skins over a horn green and allowing them to shrink on. The horn
was taken from an adult cow or ox, not so old that the horn would
be brittle or so young that it would be too soft. The horn was put
into boiling water and boiled until it was soft enough to be worked
easily. Then the inside part of the horn would come out readily and
they could bend the remainder, straighten it, ornament it, or spread
it out by driving a stick into it, handling it like gutta percha