Let’s talk subsistence
living for a moment. A People. A Culture that squeezes every bit of nourishment
from resources, be they organic or inorganic.
Object #1:
The Organic Example--The Buffalo
A food source? Of
course.
A clothing source?
Indeed.
Shelter source? Yep.
Tool source? Again,
yes.
Ceremonial source [Spiritual
anchoring]? Again, affirmative.
A brief inventory
[very brief] of the uses of a single buffalo would include…
·
The
obvious, meat/protein source.
·
Other aspects
of the animal were not ignored for sustenance: heart, liver, intestines,
kidneys, bone marrow, tongue.
·
Some drank
the liquid squeezed from the gallbladder.
·
Amongst Comanche,
it was considered a “treat” to open the stomach of a buffalo calf and drink the
curdled milk contents found within.
·
The skin
could be tanned into rawhide or parfleche—this could be hair on for warm clothing
or scraped free of hair for shelter covers and other uses.
·
The brains
were used to aid in tanning the rawhide or parfleche.
·
Bones were
used for a staggering variety of tools. Leg bones broken into scrapers, shoulders
into hoes, other bones splintered to make needles and awls for working the rawhide
and parfleche.
·
Sinew was
an ample fund of rope.
·
Various
parts of the animal could be boiled into a glue.
·
Horns
could be used decoratively, for ceremony, or to make bowls, cups, ladles, or
powder horns.
·
The stomach
was used as a water carrier and was hearty enough for a method of boiling water.
·
As the
stomach of ruminants is four-chambered it could also be sectioned into other
tool uses such as cups, pots and other “water-proof” transporting tools.
·
The tail could
be used as a fly swatter, the teeth and small bones of the hoof could be carved
into “knuckle-bones,” a form of die or gaming objects.
There are many many
more applications that these resourceful people found within this single organic
source.
Creativity and
necessity pushed the boundaries of assumed utility.
Let us now look to an
eyewitness account of a Lakota buffalo hunt witnessed by Francis Parkman during
his tour across the Plains.
[Trust me, we’ll get
to the staggeringly creative Plains Knife ways in a moment, oh, and be advised,
the extract is of its time as is his use of descriptors no longer palatable.]
“Many of the
Indians rode at full gallop toward the spot. We followed at a more moderate
pace, and soon saw the bull lying dead on the side of the hill. The Indians
were gathered around him, and several knives were
already at work. These little instruments were plied with such wonderful
address that the twisted sinews were cut apart, the ponderous bones fell
asunder as if by magic, and in a moment the vast carcass was reduced to a heap
of bloody ruins. The surrounding group of savages offered no very
attractive spectacle to a civilized eye. Some were cracking the huge
thigh-bones and devouring the marrow within; others were cutting away pieces of
the liver and other approved morsels, and swallowing them on the spot with the
appetite of wolves. The faces of most of them, besmeared with blood from ear to
ear, looked grim and horrible enough. My friend the White Shield proffered me a
marrowbone, so skillfully laid open that all the rich substance within was
exposed to view at once.”
I call your attention
to the phrase “several knives were already at work. These little instruments
were plied with such wonderful address that the twisted sinews were cut apart,
the ponderous bones fell asunder as if by magic, and in a moment the vast carcass
was reduced to a heap of bloody ruins.”
This telling
observation of facile use of “little instruments” calls attention to the fact
that often Plains inhabitants used either “made knives” [that is, blades of stone
or bone] or “trade knives” that is knives bartered for from Anglos going west.
These blades were considered
subpar and only suitable for trade with, again Parkman’s words, “savages.”
Parkman’s account, and
many many others echo his observation, that much facile ability is made with blades
considered “not up to snuff.
Parkman had seen able
long hunters with their usual three-knife rig, that is belt knife, leg-knife
and patch knife.
He had seen skilled
men perform the same field dressing of buffalo with so-called better tools.
Those of what some would
later call the “Chicago way” of skilled butchery still tout the ability and
speed of these tribes with lesser tools.
What we witness with
Plains Knife Work is akin to the complete and utter creativity and utility that
was put into the buffalo itself.
You take the resource you
have [the plains knife] and find every possible manifestation of use, even with
what in many cases would be considered a “lesser tool.”
Plains knife use is
less about the tool itself, than it is about the pragmatic know-how of just where
to insert, slice, hack, tear, approach, grip-flip, heel-back, thumb-down, twist,
tuck, and all the other subtle ways of making full and complete use of a single
knife.
And so little of that
use is reflective of the mano y mano dueling approach transported with a
Toledo steel mindset.
Necessity, creativity
and survival forged this approach.
Necessity, creativity and
survival created an astonishing fount of bladed wisdom.
These tactics were designed
to work with lesser blades, and thusly work beautifully with our modern cutlery.
It calls to mind
Seneca’s observation:
“He is the great
man who uses the earthenware dishes as if they were silver and he is equally
great if uses silver as if it were earthenware.”
Plains knifework is silver-plated
earthenware and well worth resurrecting.
[We breakdown Comanche Knife ambush on RAW 232/Black Box 20. We delve into “Above the Bone-Shield” attacks in the April 2022 Black Box volume.]
Or our
brand-spankin’ new podcast The Rough and Tumble Raconteur available on
all platforms.
[As you may guess, time, effort and love goes into this historical research and testing endeavor. It don't come free. If you happen to enjoy what is freely given here, and have a generous spirit, well, then feel free to hit the link and "Buy the Old Man a cup of coffee." As little or as much as you like. Of course, if nothing is your speed...]
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