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Show 228 BASIS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [ 1500 as material for the various vessels and receptacles of every- day life. The solution of these difficulties was fpunosjn the arts of skin- dressing, pottery, and weaving, ia^ lLcdLjKhich the Indian reached a high degree of perfection. The unevenness of the distribution of these arts is, however, most striking. \ The knowledge of skin- dressing was widely diffused, but pottery- making was entirely absent in many regions; and while weaving in some form was practically universal, the degree of art varied from area to area manner. For the preparation of skins the treatment of buffalo hides by the Indians of the plains may be taken as an example. As soon as removed, the skin was spread, stretched, and pegged to the ground, with the flesh side up, and thus exposed to the blazing sun it soon became dry and hard. The subsequent manipulation depended upon the end in view. For robes, the woman began to chip away the surface with an adze of flint or other hard material, so as to reduce the skin to uniform thickness as well as to render it more pliable. It was here that the chief care was necessary, in order not to cut through at any point and yet to produce the desired thinness. To facilitate the process and to render the skin as soft as possible, it was constantly smeared with a mixture of buffalo brains and fat, which was thoroughly rubbed in with a smooth stone. The final product was as pliable as ill in the textile Un iin inexplicable |