Glue
- Glue was used in arrows and bow making, for sealing the seams of canoes
and containers of birch bark, attaching feathers to the war bonnet and
for many other purposes.
The thick muscles and muscular tissue of
the neck of the buffalo and bull elk were boiled for several days until
a jelly like glue resulted. Captain John Smith wrote that the Virginia
Indians used the sinew and the tops of deer horns to make a glue which
would not dissolve in cold water. The Hupa found glue in the gland
of the lower jaw and nose of the sturgeon.
The gum resin of the mesquite tree provided
glue and the California Indians used the bulb of the soap plant.
Possibly the most famous glue was the bigiu of the Woodland Indians,
made of pitch from evergreen trees. After being boiled to obtain
the pure resin, it was mixed with powdered charcoal.
Glue was often colored with ocher.
it was usually stored on sticks and softened for use by heating.
Related Information
within this Site
[ Arrow
][ Bark Craft ][ Buffalo
][ Canoe ]