TANNING, CORDAGE, AND GLUE
Mountain Maidu buried bear skins in wet ground, but hides generally were
soaked about a week in water by local Indians. Mountain Maidu used ashes
to help dehair skins other than deer, but this was not a practice common
to other tribes. Stone, or more frequently, shaped deer rib or pelvic
bones were used as dehairing scraper tools on skins. The hide was draped
over an inclined post and was soaked and squeezed occasionally during
the process of scraping.
The tanning agent was a cooked soup of animal brains, particularly those
of deer. This material might first have been mashed, mixed with dry
moss, and then molded into small cakes for drying and storage. The deer
brain agent was well rubbed into the cleaned, soaked skin. It was then
allowed to soak overnight in the tanning solution. The next day while
drying the skin in the sun, the operator stretched and worked the hide
with his hands to make it soft and pliable.
Among Atsugewi the skin was then smoked over a fire of moist rotten logs
or green juniper boughs burning in a shallow pit. The skin was laid on a
domed framework of willow branches arched over the fire. The hide was
turned occasionally to insure uniform treatment. Mr. Garth believes that
this smoking process was recently learned. It was not generally
practiced by neighboring tribes, but produced superior buckskin which
resisted stiffening as a result of subsequent wetting. Even Atsugewi did
not smoke other skins.
[Illustration: Nets. a, b, stages in net making; c, tule float; d,
net shuttle.]
Men did all this work as well as the hunting, skinning, and fashioning
of garments from hides. Skins were sewn with bone awls and deer sinew
thread which was made by rolling fine deer sinew strands on the thigh
with the open hand.
[Illustration: Net making shuttle about fourteen inches long (after
Dixon)]
[Illustration: The usual Maidu knot for nets (after Dixon)]
[Illustration: Carrying net]
Like other local tribes, the Maidu used many woven skin blankets. These
were fashioned from one inch strips of rabbit fur, especially, but also
of the skins of wildcat, cougar, geese, or crows. These were not tanned
so that upon drying they twisted or curled like the strands of a rope
with the fur or feather side out. Ends were tied together to form a long
fur or feather covered rope. This was wound about two poles set upright
in the ground six feet or so apart to form the warp for the blanket.
More of the same material was then woven up and down as weft to produce
a soft and very warm skin blanket which was also quite durable. When
bird skins were employed a cord core was threaded thru the center of the
twisted strands before weaving for greater strength.
Mountain Maidu also did feather work like that of the Atsugewi, however
foothill and valley Maidu did so to a greater extent and of a more
elaborate nature.
Willow, serviceberry, and redbud withes, and at lower elevations,
lengths of wild grape vines were used for tying purposes. However,
Indians also had need for strong and more versatile and more durable
string, cord, and rope. These were usually made from vegetable fibers.
Atsugewi and mountain Maidu used Indian hemp and milkweed but not nettle
or iris fibers as did some other tribes. When mature, but before they
became old and brittle, the plants were collected and dried, stripped of
leaves, and the flesh was scraped and pounded off leaving the free
fibers. String was made by placing two small bundles of fibers parallel
and close together on the thigh of the leg. These were rolled up into
two strands side by side with one stroke of the open hand moving either
up or down the thigh. On the return stroke the two separate and now
twisted strands were twisted together into one string. Stout cord was
made by repeating the process, substituting two strings for the two
bundles of loose fibers this time. To make rope the process was repeated
several times, successively doubling the cordage product. As the cordage
strands were twined together, the product was held in the left hand, the
rolling being done by the right hand on the right thigh.
Nets of good quality were fabricated in a variety of mesh sizes, the
uniformity of which was controlled by use of squarish wooden blocks.
Shuttles to hold the string for net tying were straight pieces of wood
notched at each end and into which the strand was wrapped. As has been
pointed out, nets were used chiefly for hunting, fishing, and carrying,
although small nets were often worn in the hair by men.
Adhesives were important in the economy of the Indians too. Pine pitch
and glue made from the skins of fish were used. A solution of the latter
was mixed by the mountain Maidu with certain internal organs of fish and
boiled vegetable materials to improve the quality of their glue.