Mandan Figures

Description

The majority of these small sketches depict women carrying burdens. The top central figure in Plate 291 has a burden basket on her back supported by a tumpline across her forehead. This type of basket is more clearly pictured hanging from a post in Plate 300. Other women are laden with what may be bundles of firewood. Maximilian was impressed with both the weight of these bundles and the manner in which people got them on their backs. The wood was bound together and placed on the ground, and a woman would then lie on her back on top of it. Once the bundle was secured across her head or chest, a second woman would raise her to her feet, supporting her until she could stand upright and bend forward under the load. Even larger loads might be pushed or dragged across the ice. The faint group of figures in the center of Plate 291 seems to be three women working together on such a task.