much the worse for
wear. A brown leather girdle.
POWHATAN. Indian dress of tan (dressed deerskin), the neck and breast
of it gorgeously painted with blue, green, and scarlet. Great chains of
shells and beads. A huge head-dress of black feathers that hangs down
his back almost to his knees. It should be the largest and most
magnificent of all the Indian head-dresses, as it is the insignia of
chiefdom. Tan stockings and tan moccasins. The material of his costume
may be cotton khaki. (The imitation khaki is best, as the real material
is too heavy.)
THE MEDICINE-MAN. The medicine-man is old. He wears a wig of long,
white, coarse hair. His costume is of cotton khaki, decorated with
beads, bits of looking-glass, and feathers. He wears no feathers on his
head. A piece of fur is fastened to his shoulders. His blanket is
black, with white cabalistic signs. It can be made of canton flannel.
INDIAN BRAVES. The braves who follow Powhatan should wear costumes
resembling those of the chief, save that they are less gorgeously
painted, and wear fewer strings of beads and shells. Their
head-dresses, too, are shorter. They should be of gray, black, and
brown feathers. Their faces are, of course, stained brown, their arms
and necks likewise. Red and black warpaint should also be on their
faces. Unless wigs of long hair are to be worn, the boys wearing the
feathered head-dresses should be careful to see that their lack of long
hair is concealed from view. Often the Indian braves wore their long
matted locks braided; and black cheesecloth cut into strips and then
braided and fastened to a tight black cap will make a splendid wig of
this sort--the braids of hair should hang in front of the ears. The
Indian braves should carry bows, arrows, and tomahawks.
THE INDIAN MAIDENS. The Indian maidens should wear tan fringed dresses,
of the same length and fashion as that of Pocahontas. Necklaces and
bracelets of shells. The necks of the dresses embroidered in beads and
shells. They wear their long black hair in two braids, the ends of the
braids bound either with scarlet, corn-yellow, or vivid blue. They have
moccasins and tan-colored stockings. Their bead' embroidered footgear
should be in striking color on a tan background. But their chief glory
is their blankets. These should be barbarically glowing, since it is
partly in their wild flare of color that the beauty of the Blanket
Dance lies. The following designs for them are taken from the
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