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information that he ever did. There are no herbs of spontanious growth on the Prairie except the Buffalo berry this he can procure for food and he is no fisherman hence his diet is about entirely in the native state, animal. and eaten raw, we refer of course to the Dakota a generation back when the Buffalo, Deer, Elk, and Antelope were plenty. The first is extinct, the second and third almost [?] while a few of the latter still roam the plains. In the "good old days" when the Dakota thirst for blood was satisfied in a measure by the slaughter of the buffalo, the squaws and children cut the meat up into chunks and this was hung up to dry in the hot dry prairie wind which in a short time dried the meat into a condition almost like a bone. in this condition it is stored away in a par fleche, or in a Pemmican bag. to do this the dried meat is reduced to pemican by the use of a "pemican mallet" this instrument consists of a more or less round stave which is pounded and manipulated so that one face is flattened and about the middle is a groove more or less deeply cut . we give drawings of the such the first is of white quartz a "cobblestone" as they are technically known is grooved as will be shown later by pounding and a [?] of [?] is bent around the head over the head and [?] which forms the handle is secured with sinew a piece of [?] calf skin in the form of a cap with two angular projections on are fastened to it. The shrinking of the green hide binds the whole firmly together and [?] the mallet. The case in this specimen is a [?] addition of the modern thing are not usually present. In this case they are ornamented at the edge with while beads the tips are ornamented with tin cones and a whisp of purple horse hair.. At the end of the handle is a loop of raw hide ornamented with a tassle of three strands of buckskin wrapped with porcupine quills dyed red and purple and terminating in tin cones and purple horse hair.
This specimen was [?] by a Dakota at the Lower Brule Agency South Dakota named "Long [?Gege?]. the weight of the mallet is two pounds In an otherwise reliable work on the indians a picture of such a mallet is shown in color and designated "Sioux War Club". it is never in the strict sense used for a war club. It is highly probable a squaw might give or receive a blow with the Pemican mallet while she is in the act of pounding the meat but that is hardly war.