80 Two female elk are sketched with one above and one below on the horizontal page. They run from the left to the right edge of the paper�the extended forelegs indicate motion. The overlapping of the top elk�s legs over the bottom elk�s legs is typical of the X-ray composition of ledger art conventions. This indicates that they run side-by-side. The adult elk have no antlers or genitalia, like male elk in the ledger, so they are almost certainly female. The ears, cloven hooves, tails, hind dew claws, and beard (lower elk only) are detailed. Eyes are circled outlines of unpigmented paper, contrasting with the darker shoulders and head. This is an unusual image in the ledger, as the females have no young with them. Elk meat was more important for northern plains dwellers after the collapse of the buffalo populations. For more discussion of female elk, see plate 25; for discussion of male elk, see plate 19 (page 81). Inside Back Cover A man in a COURTING blanket faces a woman. They are in the middle of the page and presented on a horizontal plane of the paper. They are crowded on the page so that feet do not show. The male figure on the right wraps his long braid in red trade cloth. He wears an orange blanket with white trim along the back, to create the white stripe that gives this blanket the name "skunk" blanket, which is a courting blanket made of ". . . two pieces of white-selvedge trade cloth sewn together. This produced a double-width wrap, with a broad white stripe down the center" (Cowdrey 1999: 75). See Arrow�s Elk Society Ledger on PILA for more examples. The man wears leggings with a beaded strip of triangular black and white design, suggesting the north and its associations of mountains and lightning. His blue breech clout is edges with the undyed white selvage, and the two flaps touch the ground. The woman wears a blue blanket with a strip in the middle containing the four-quartered medicine wheel design and a white strip along the back. Her blue leggings have a vertical white stripe up the front (created by sewing undyed selvedge edges together). The bottoms of the leggings are edged in black and white bands or cuffs (perhaps made from dyed Hudson�s Bay cloth). Her legging tops are folded over so the fringed tops (white or undyed) show under the blanket. See plate 1 for further discussion of COURTING conventions.