highly developed, coil, rectangular shapes, imbricated technique; twine weaving in flexible bags and mats; some simple weaving of bark fiber for clothing; clothing for the entire body usually of deerskins; skin caps for the men, and in some cases basket caps for women; blankets of woven rabbitskin; the sinew-backed bow prevailed; clubs, lances, and knives, and rod and slat armor (Fig. 60) were used in war, also heavy leather shirts; fish spears, hooks, traps, and bag nets were used; dressing of deerskins highly developed, but other skin-work weak, upright stretching frames and straight longhandled scrapers; while wood work was more advanced than among the Plains tribes it was insignificant as compared to the North Pacific Coast area (4); stone work was confined to the making of tools and points, battering and flaking, some jadeite tools; work in bone, metal, and feathers very weak.
Of the non-material traits the most distinctive are: decorative art simple and inconspicuous, rather inclining towards the Plains type on the one hand and that of the North Pacific Coast tribes on the other; lack of definite tribal organization and band distinctions; a weak but still definite social distinction based upon personal wealth, with at least a modern use of the "potlatch" ceremony; hence, there are no striking general ceremonies or ritualistic societies as in the preceding area; puberty ceremonies rather prominent and related to the general belief in personal guardians; mythology largely a record of the "trickster type."
The Shahaptian group includes tribes of the Waiilatpuan stock. The underground house seems to be wanting here, but the Nez Percé used a form of it for a young men's lodge. However, the permanent house seems to be a form of the double lean-to of the North. In other respects the differences are almost wholly due to the intrusion of traits from the Plains.
The Northern Shoshonean tribes were even farther removed toward Plains culture, though they used a dome-shaped brush shelter before the tipi became general; thus, they used canoes not at all, carried the Plains shield; deer being scarce in their country they made more use of the buffalo than the Nez Percé, depended more upon small game and especially made
