" I found
afterward a large variety of these Winnebago sacks, and all were
characterized by patterns of men, deer, turtles, or other animals. Not
one Fox sack of such pattern was to be found, though many elaborate
and beautiful geometrical designs were shown me.
The most beautiful work done on this reservation is the bead weaving
on the ci-bo-hi-kan--woven work, _not_ sewed, remember. In appearance
the result is like the Iroquois wampum belts, but the management of
the threads is dissimilar. The Sac and Fox patterns are frequently
complex and beautiful, but always geometrical. We have seen hundreds
of them, but none with life forms. The Winnebago belts, made in
exactly the same way, frequently, if not always, present animals or
birds or human beings.
This, it seems to us, is very curious. Here are people of two tribes
living side by side, with the same mode of life and the same arts, but
in their art designs so diverse. It is a case parallel to that of the
old effigy builders, a people who have a passion for depicting animal
forms--a passion not shared by their neighbors.
If this were the only evidence that the Winnebagoes built the effigy
mounds, or that their ancestors did so, it would have no great weight.
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