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Native Americans lacked large beasts of burden such as camels and horses. Their only domesticated animal was the dog, which was used to carry loads and to draw the travois. Native peoples employed the travois to transport household utensils, weapons, tools, tipi covers, firewood, and meat, but a dog could haul only about sixty pounds, which meant that human beings, particularly women, did most of the carrying themselves.

In time, the introduction of the horse was to have far-reaching effects among the Plains Indians. The horse was about eight times as efficient as the dog: it could carry on its back or haul on a travois a load four times heavier than the load a dog could manage, and it could travel twice as far in a day. Horse transport allowed Indians to carry more tools and utensils, extra foodstuffs, and larger tipis, and suddenly nomadism did not require giving up all but the bare minimum of possessions. It also made it possible for Indians to hunt bison more effectively, and this enticed horticulturists–the Omahas, for example–to increase the role of hunting in their economies.

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8y ago

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