Who were the effigy builders? This is a question often asked and
variously answered. Some writers would refer them to the Winnebagoes,
or, if not to them directly, to some Dakota stock from which the
Winnebagoes have descended.
Formerly I was a frequent visitor to the Sac and Fox Reservation in
Iowa. About 400 of the tribe are left. To an unusual degree they
retain the old dress, language, arts and dances. With them lived a few
Winnebagoes. In general the lives of the two peoples are similar.
Certain arts common to both of them particularly interested me. They
are the making of sacks of barks and cords, and the weaving of bead
bands for legs and arms, upon the _ci-bo-hi-kan_. Of the bark sacks
there are several patterns, the simplest being made of splints of bark
passing alternately over and under each other. Another kind, far more
elaborate in construction, is before you. Yet more elaborate ones are
made entirely of cords. The first of these I saw was in old Jennie
Davenport's wikiup. It was of white and black cords, and the black
ones were so manipulated as to form a pattern--a line of human figures
stretching across the sack. Jennie would not sell it, as she said, "It
is a Winnebago woman's sack; Fox woman not make that kind.
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