Chapter II: Part 2

In another place the same author says:

The Sauteurs, who are beyond the Missisakis, take their name
from a Saut (waterfall) which flows from Lake Superior into
Lake Huron by a great fall whose rapids are extremely
violent. These people are very skillful in fishery by which
they obtain white fish as large as salmons. They cross all
these terrible rapids into which they cast a net like a sack,
a little more than half an ell in width by one in depth
attached to a forked stick about 15 feet long.[39]

A novel use of nets is recorded by this author as follows:

For taking pigeons in summer in nets, they make a broad path
in the woods and attach to two trees, one on each side, a
large net made in the shape of a sack well opened.[40]

Du Pratz, speaking of the fishing nets of the Louisiana Indians, states that they "are meshed like ours and made of lime-tree bark; the large fish are shot with arrows."[41]

FEATHER WORK.

Feather work was one of the most remarkable arts of the natives of Mexico and other southern countries at the period of the conquest. The feathers were sometimes woven in with the woof and sometimes applied to a network base after the fashion of embroidery. Rarely, it may be imagined, were either spun or unspun fabrics woven of feathers alone. Very pleasing specimens of ancient Peruvian feather work are recovered from graves at Ancon and elsewhere, and the method of inserting the feathers is illustrated in the Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology.[42] In few instances has such work been recovered from mounds or burial places, but there can be no doubt that the mound-building tribes were experts in this art. Frequent mention is made of the feather work of the natives by the earliest explorers of the Mississippi valley, and the character of the work may be gathered from the extracts already given and from those which follow.

John Smith, speaking of the feather work of the Virginia Indians, says:

We haue seene some vse mantels made of Turky feathers, so
prettily wrought and woven with threads that nothing could be
discerned but the feathers.[43]

Lawson mentions a "doctor" of the Santee nation who "was warmly and neatly clad with a match coat, made of turkies feathers, which makes a pretty show, seeming as if it was a garment of the deepest silk shag."[44]

In another place the same author says:

Their feather match coats are very pretty, especially some of
them, which are made extraordinary charming, containing
several pretty figures wrought in feathers, making them seem
like a fine flower silk shag; and when new and fresh, they
become a bed very well, instead of a quilt. Some of another
sort are made of hair, raccoon, bever, or squirrel skins,
which are very warm. Others again are made of the greenpart
of the skin of a mallard's head, which they sew perfectly
well together, their thread being either the sinews of a deer
divided very small, or silk grass. When these are finished,
they look very finely, though they must needs be very
troublesome to make.[45]

Du Pratz thus describes the art in Louisiana:

If the women know how to do this kind of work they make
mantles either of feathers or woven of the bark of the
mulberry tree. We will describe their method of doing this.
The feather mantles are made on a frame similar to that on
which the peruke makers work hair; they spread the feathers
in the same manner and fasten them on old fish nets or old
mantles of mulberry bark. They are placed, spread in this
manner, one over the other and on both sides; for this
purpose small turkey feathers are used; women who have
feathers of swans or India ducks, which are white, make these
feather mantles for women of high rank.[46]

Butel-Dumont describes feather work of the natives of Louisiana briefly as follows:

They [the women] also, without a spinning wheel or distaff,
spin the hair or wool of cattle of which they make garters
and ribands; and with the thread which they obtain from
lime-tree bark, they make a species of mantle, which they
cover with the finest swan's feathers fastened one by one to
the material. A long task indeed, but they do not count this
trouble and time when it concerns their satisfaction.[47]

EMBROIDERY.

The use of beads, quills, and other articles to beautify the surfaces of fabrics and skins was as common, no doubt, with the ancient as with the modern native inhabitants of the Mississippi valley. In discoursing on the dress of native women of Louisiana Butel-Dumont says that the young girls wear--

* * * a sort of network attached to the waist and terminating
in a point, * * * both sides of which are ornamented with
ribbons of thread made from lime-tree fiber, also made into
network. From the waist to the knees hang several cords of
the same thread, to the ends of which are attached claws of
birds of prey, such as eaglets, crows, etc., so that when the
girls walk these make a rattling noise which is highly
pleasing to them. This kind of ornament does not illy
resemble those nets which we use to cover our horses to
protect them from flies.[48]

From Du Pratz we have the following:

The women make also designs in embroidery with the skin of
the porcupine; they remove for this purpose the skin of this
animal, which is white and black; they split it very fine to
use as embroidery thread, dye a part of the white skin a red
color, another part yellow, and a third part is left white;
they usually work on black skin, and dye the black a reddish
brown; but if they work on bark, the black [threads] remain
the same. Their designs are very similar to some of those
found in Gothic architecture; they are composed of straight
lines which form right angles at their conjunction, which is
commonly called the corner of a square. They also work
similar designs on mantles and coverings which they make with
the bark of the mulberry tree.[49]

John Smith testifies to the same practices in Virginia as shown in the following lines:

For their apparell, they are sometimes covered with the
skinnes of wilde beasts, which in Winter are dressed with the
hayre, but in Sommer without. The better sort use large
mantels of Deare skins, not much differing in fashion from
the Irish mantels. Some imbrodered with white beads, some
with Copper, other painted after their manner. * * * We haue
seene some use mantels made of Turky feathers, so prettily
wrought and woven with threads that nothing could be
discerned but the feathers.[50]

[26] Travels in North America, Peter Kalm. English translation,
London, 1771, vol. II, pp. 131, 132.

[27] Ibid., pp. 148-149.

[28] Hist. de l'Amérique, Sept., vol. III, p. 34.

[29] Hist. Virginia. Richmond, 1819, pp. 132-133.

[30] History of the American Indians. London, 1775, pp. 422,
423.

[31] Narratives of the Career of Hernando de Soto in the
Conquest of Florida as told by a Knight of Elvas. Translated
by Buckingham Smith. New York, 1866, p. 52.

[32] Ibid., p. 63.

[33] Narratives of the Career of Hernando de Soto in the
Conquest of Florida as told by a Knight of Elvas. Translated
by Buckingham Smith. New York, 1866, p. 160-70.

[34] Ibid., p. 164.

[35] Hist. Louisiana, op. cit., vol. II, p. 23.

[36] Memoirs of a captive among the Indians of North America,
John D. Hunter. London, 1823, pp. 289-290.

[37] Hist. of Carolina, John Lawson. London, 1714; reprint,
Raleigh, N. C., 1800, pp. 293-294.

[38] Histoire de l'Amérique Septentrionale, Bacqueville de la
Potherie, vol. III, pp. 33-34.

[39] Ibid., vol. II, pp. 60-61.

[40] Ibid., vol. II, p. 80.

[41] Histoire de la Louisiane, vol. II, pp. 179-180.

[42] The Textile Art, W. H. Holmes, p. 231.

[43] Hist. Virginia, John Smith. Richmond, 1819, vol. I, p.
130.

[44] Hist. Carolina, John Lawson. Raleigh, 1860, p. 37.

[45] Ibid., pp. 311-312.

[46] Hist. de la Louisiane, vol. II, pp. 191-192.

[47] Memoire sur la Louisiane. Paris, 1753, vol. I, pp.
154-155.

[48] Ibid., vol, I, pp. 138-139.

[49] Historie de la Louisiane, vol. II, pp. 184-185.

[50] Hist. Virginia. Richmond, 1819, vol. I, pp. 129-130.

FOSSIL FABRICS.

MODES OF PRESERVATION.

Contenting myself with the preceding references to the practice of the arts of spinning and weaving in the various regions of the country, I pass on to an examination of the archeologic material which includes traces or remnants of the weaver's work from all sections of the country. As already mentioned, there are a number of ways in which textile articles or data relating to them may be preserved in such manner as to permit examination and study.

Through charring by the use of fire in burial rites, and by contact with copper or preservative salts in burial caves, numerous pieces of cloth and parts of costumes have come into our possession. One of the most fertile sources of information has but recently been made available. The ancient potter employed woven fabrics in handling, finishing, and decorating pottery. From mounds, graves, and dwelling sites, all over the country, vases and sherds are found covered with impressions of these fabrics, and so well preserved that by taking casts in clay or wax entirely satisfactory restorations are made. Something may be learned from the recovery of implements of spinning and weaving, but up to this time the only relics secured are a few rather rude spindle whorls.

I shall present in the following paragraphs such portions of the available data as seem calculated to illustrate briefly and clearly the nature of the ancient art.

FABRICS FROM CAVES AND SHELTERS.

At an early date in the history of the country reports began to find their way into print relating to the discovery of mortuary fabrics in caverns and shelters. Extracts from some of these publications may be given.

From the writing of John Haywood historian of Tennessee, we have the following:

In the spring of the year 1811, was found in a copperas cave
in Warren county, in West Tennessee, about 15 miles southwest
from Sparta, and 20 from McMinnville, the bodies of two human
beings, which had been covered by the dirt or ore from which
copperas was made. One of these persons was a male, the other
a female. They were interred in baskets, made of cane,
curiously wrought, and evidencing great mechanic skill. They
were both dislocated at the hip joint, and were placed erect
in the baskets, with a covering made of cane to fit the
baskets in which they were placed. The flesh of these persons
was entire and undecayed, of a brown dryish colour, produced
by time, the flesh having adhered closely to the bones and
sinews. Around the female, next her body, was placed a well
dressed deer skin. Next to this was placed a rug, very
curiously wrought, of the bark of a tree and feathers. The
bark seemed to have been formed of small strands well
twisted. Around each of these strands, feathers were rolled,
and the whole woven into a cloth of firm texture, after the
manner of our common coarse fabrics. This rug was about three
feet wide, and between six and seven feet in length. The
whole of the ligaments thus framed of bark were completely
covered with feathers, forming a body of about one eighth of
an inch in thickness, the feathers extending about one
quarter of an inch in length from the strand to which they
were confined. The appearance was highly diversified by
green, blue, yellow and black, presenting different shades of
colour when reflected upon by the light in different
positions. The next covering was an undressed deer skin,
around which was rolled, in good order, a plain shroud
manufactured after the same order as the one ornamented with
feathers. This article resembled very much in its texture the
bags generally used for the purpose of holding coffee
exported from Havanna to the United States. The female had in
her hand a fan formed of the tail feathers of a turkey. The
points of these feathers were curiously bound by a buckskin
string, well dressed, and were thus closely bound for about
one inch from the points. About three inches from the point
they were again bound, by another deer skin string, in such a
manner that the fan might be closed and expanded at pleasure.
* * *

The cave in which they were found, abounded in nitre,
copperas, alum, and salts. The whole of this covering, with
the baskets, was perfectly sound, without any marks of
decay.[51]

There was also a scoop net made of bark thread; a mockasin
made of the like materials; a mat of the same materials,
enveloping human bones, were found in saltpetre dirt, six
feet below the surface. The net and other things mouldered on
being exposed to the sun.[52]

In the year 1815 a remarkably interesting set of mortuary fabrics was recovered from a saltpeter cave near Glasgow, Kentucky. A letter from Samuel L. Mitchell, published by the American Antiquarian Society, contains the following description of the condition of the human remains and of the nature of its coverings:

The outer envelope of the body is a deer skin, probably dried
in the usual way, and perhaps softened before its
application, by rubbing. The next covering is a deer skin,
whose hair had been cut away by a sharp instrument,
resembling a hatter's knife. The remnant of the hair, and the
gashes in the skin, nearly resemble the sheared pelt of
beaver. The next wrapper of cloth is made of twine doubled
and twisted. But the thread does not appear to have been
formed by the wheel, nor the web by the loom. The warp and
filling seemed to have been crossed and knotted by an
operation like that of the fabricks of the northwest coast,
and of the Sandwich islands. * * * The innermost tegument is
a mantle of cloth like the preceding; but furnished with
large brown feathers, arranged and fastened with great art,
so as to be capable of guarding the living wearer from wet
and cold. The plumage is distinct and entire, and the whole
bears a near similitude to the feathery cloaks now worn by
the nations of the northwestern coast of America.[53]

The Bureau of Ethnology had the good fortune to secure recently a number of representative pieces of burial fabrics of the classes mentioned in the preceding extracts, and somewhat detailed descriptions of these will sufficiently illustrate the art as practiced by the early inhabitants of the middle portions of the country.

The relics which have come into the possession of the Bureau were obtained in 1885 by Mr. A. J. McGill from a rock shelter on "Clifty" or Cliff Creek, Morgan county, Tennessee. Mr. J. W. Emmert, through whom they were procured, reports that they were found in a grave 3½ feet below the surface and in earth strongly charged with niter and perhaps other preservative salts. The more pliable cloths, together with skeins of vegetal fiber, a dog's skull, some bone tools, and portions of human bones and hair, were rolled up in a large split-cane mat. The grave was situated about as shown in the accompanying section (figure 4). A shelf some 20 feet in width, with depressed floor, occurs about midway between the creek bed and the slightly overhanging ledge above, the whole height being estimated at 300 feet.

The mat, a very excellent piece of work, is 6 feet 6 inches by 3 feet 4 inches. By reference to plate II it will be seen that it is neatly and artistically made and quite well preserved. The strands are from one-third to three-sixteenths of an inch in width and are even on the edges and smoothly dressed on the back. The hard, glistening outer surface of the cane is light in color and the dressed surface is dark naturally or artificially, and the weaving is so managed that a tasteful border and a checkered effect are produced by alternately exposing the light and dark sides. This piece probably very fairly represents the split-cane work of the whole cane-producing region. A similar piece of work from the gulf coast is illustrated in figure 12.

Inclosed with the mat were three pieces of fabric of especial interest, all pertaining, no doubt, to the costume of the person buried. The piece of cloth shown in plate III probably served as a mantle or skirt and is 46 inches long by 24 wide. It is of coarse, pliable, yellowish-gray stuff, woven in the twined style so common all over America. The fiber was doubtless derived from the native hemp, and the strands are neatly twisted and about the size of average wrapping cord. The warp strands, 24 inches in length, extend across the piece; and on the left margin, as seen in the illustration, they are looped for the passage of a gathering string, while on the left they have been cut to form a short fringe. The opposing series (the woof strands) have been passed through with the length of the cloth in pairs, which are twisted half around at each intersection, inclosing the web strands in alternating pairs as shown in detail in figure 5. These twined strands are placed three-eights of an inch apart, the web being so close that the fabric is but slightly open. The twined strands are carried back and forth in groups of four as shown at the ends in the plate, and are knotted as illustrated in the figure.

A piece of fabric of much interest is presented in plate IV. It may be an unfinished garment of the class shown in the preceding illustration, but it is more likely a complete skirt, the narrow woven band with its gathering string serving as a belt and the long fringe being the skirt. The length at the gathered edge is 34 inches, and the pendant length is 20 inches. The material and the weaving are the same as in the piece of cloth already described, although the work is somewhat coarser. A detailed study of the border is given in figure 6, the vertical series of threads being pulled apart to show more distinctly the manner of combination.

The two pieces just described would seem to correspond pretty closely with the garments formerly worn by women and girls of the lower Mississippi country, as illustrated by Du Pratz in a plate facing page 310, volume II, of his Histoire de la Louisiane. His plate is reproduced in figure 7. The following are translations of his descriptions of the garments delineated:

The women in warm weather have only a half ell of limbourg,
with which they are covered; they fold this cloth around the
body and are well clothed from the waist to the knees; when
they have no limbourg they use in the same way a deer
skin.[54].

When the girls reach the age of eight or nine years they are
clothed from the waist to the ankles with a fringe of threads
of mulberry bark, fastened to a band

which is attached below the abdomen; there is also another
band above the abdomen which meets the first at the back;
between the two the body is covered in front by a network
which is held there by the bands, and at the back there are
merely two large cords, each having a tassel.[55]

Of equal interest to the preceding is the badly frayed bag shown in plate V. It is 20 inches in length and 13 inches in depth. The style of weaving is the same as that of the two preceding examples; a peculiar open effect is produced by the rotting out of certain strands of dark color, which were arranged in pairs alternating with eight lighter threads. The construction of the border or rim of this bag is quite remarkable. As shown in figure 8, the upper ends of the vertical

strands are gathered in slightly twisted groups of four and carried up free for about two inches, when they are brought together and plaited with remarkable neatness into a string border. As if to convey to the curious investigator of modern times a complete knowledge of their weavers' art, the friends of the dead deposited with the body not only the fabrics worn during life but a number of skeins of the fiber from which the fabrics were probably made. This fiber has been identified as that of the _Cannabis sativa_, or wild hemp. Two of the skeins are shown in plate V.

The presence of these unworked materials makes it probable that the individual burned was a female, for the distaff and the loom have been and are universal emblems of the practical enslavement of that sex.

A small but very instructive group of burial fabrics is preserved in the National Museum. These specimens were found with a desiccated body in 1877 in a cave 8 miles from Mammoth cave, Kentucky. They consist of a number of bags and other articles woven in the usual styles of bast and hemp. Nearly all of the articles are worn or fragmentary, but the fiber is wonderfully preserved and the original colors are as fresh as if the burial had taken place but yesterday. There are three wide-mouthed, shallow bags, resembling the one from Tennessee illustrated in plate V. The largest is 34 inches long when closed, and 15 inches deep. Both web and woof are of bast. There is a border of open work bound by a plaited band as seen in figure 8, and the manner of weaving is identical with that shown in that figure. The second bag is 22 inches long and 16 deep. The web is of bast, the woof of hemp. The smaller specimen is 14 by 9 inches and is made exclusively of hemp, and is thus much more pliable than the others. The small remnant of a larger bag shows a web of heavy, plaited bast strands resembling the specimen impressed on pottery and shown in _a_, plate IX. Besides these pieces there is a bit of heavy, compactly woven stuff, resembling the broad part of a sling, which shows traces of a geometric pattern, and a piece of flattish rope 12 feet long and 12 inches broad plaited very neatly of hempen twine.

Among a number of cave relics from Kentucky donated to the Museum by Mr. Francis Klett, are some textile articles. Among these is a sandal or moccasin woven or plaited very neatly of bast. It is shown in figure 9. Prof. F. W. Putnam and other explorers of these caves have obtained numerous textile articles of interest.

CHARRED REMAINS OF FABRICS FROM MOUNDS.

That the well-preserved fabrics just illustrated represent fairly the textile work of the mound-builders is practically demonstrated by the evidence furnished by the mounds themselves. From hundreds of sources come the same story; and it is not necessary here to enter into any elaborate discussion of the subject or to multiply illustrations. I present in plates VI and VII specimens of mound fabrics which, since they were burned with the dead, undoubtedly formed part of the clothing of the living or were wrappings of articles deposited with the bodies. These coarse cloths may be considered as fairly representing the weaving of the mound-builders. There are among them some finer examples of weaving than those obtained from the caves and shelters of Tennessee and Kentucky, but there is nothing specifically different in material or methods of combination, and there is nothing whatever to suggest a higher stage of culture than that of the historic Indian.

The fiber is quite fine and is more probably of hemp than of the bark of trees. The strands are generally well twisted and even, the twist being in most cases to the right, or as if twisted on the thigh with a downward movement of the right-hand, the thread being held in the left. As in the case of cave fabrics as well as the work of the modern peoples of the region, the weaving is nearly all in the twined style, of which there are two varieties; one in which each strand of the web is in turn inclosed simply by the woof twisted in pairs, and the other in which alternate pairs of the web strands are inclosed by the twined pairs of the woof. Cloths woven in the first method are often quite close, as the woof threads are readily pressed or pounded down on one another entirely hiding the web strands, giving a fabric of much compactness and strength. The second variety is usually somewhat open and net-like, and very often the pairs of twined woof strands are placed far apart, as shown in several of the illustrations given in this paper. The finest mesh observed is in the first of these styles, and includes about twenty intersections to the inch.

From the Ohio mounds also there are examples of plain as well as of diagonal interlacing. In appearance the cloth is much the same as that done in the twined style. In a few cases a border or selvage of very simple construction is seen. A looped margin for the passage of a gathering cord is common.

In plate VI a number of bits of charred cloth are shown; being quite black the camera fails to give them with clearness, but the drawings presented in plate VII serve to make clear all details of the strands and their combination. The charring has taken place in cremating the dead, in the burning of offerings or through accidental subjection to heat. In some cases very considerable portions of the cloth are found, but it is usually in a very fragile state and little has been preserved.

Specimens preserved in this way are obtained from a large area, including the Ohio and a large portion of the Mississippi valleys.

FABRICS PRESERVED BY CONTACT WITH COPPER.

The preservation of woven textures through association in burials with implements or other articles of copper is of common occurrence. Our museums contain many examples of copper celts retaining on their surfaces portions of cloth so well preserved that the fibers retain much of their original strength as well as color. In plate VIII three examples are shown from a mound near Davenport, Iowa, and a fourth from a mound near Savannah, Georgia. The fabrics on _a_ and _b_ are of the twined style and, although occurring 800 miles apart, are identical in every respect. The cloth on _c_ is very closely woven and has the appearance of simple interlacing. The finest piece of work that has come to my notice is a bit of cloth from a mound in Pike county, Ohio. It has from thirty-five to forty strands to the inch, and looks much like coarse twilled goods. It is woven in the twined style, however, and is therefore of native origin. It was preserved by contact with a large number of copper beads, four of which are shown in the cut, figure 10.

Traces of basketry are rarely preserved either by charring or by contact with copper. Matting is occasionally preserved in these ways. Figure 11 illustrates a piece of rush matting found fixed to the surface of a bit of copper in a mound near Augusta, Georgia.

The weaving of the hair of many species of quadrupeds, the buffalo, the opossum, the rabbit, etc., is noted by a number of authors, and a few specimens of haircloth have been recovered from mounds. Mr. Henry R. Howland found in a mound near Alton, Illinois, two varieties of cloth preserved by contact with a copper ornament representing a turtle-shell; they are described as follows:

Closely fitting over the outer surface of the copper shell
is, first, a woven cloth of a vegetable fibre, similar in its
general character to the outer matting above described, but
of a stronger and better preserved fibre, apparently more
like that which forms the woven coating of the Davenport
axes. This is covered in turn with a softer, finer fabric,
now of a dark-brown color, formed of twisted strands, laid or
matted closely together, though apparently not woven. The
material of which these strands are formed proves, under
microscopic examination, to be animal hair.[56]

An illustration of ancient split cane matting is presented in figure 12. The specimen was obtained from Petite Anse island, near Vermilion bay, southern coast of Louisiana, and a photograph was presented to the Smithsonian Institution in 1866, by J. F. Cleu. The following description, as given by Prof. Joseph Henry, appears on the label attached to the specimen:

This fragment of matting was found near the surface of the
salt, and about 2 feet above it were remains of tusks and
bones of a fossil elephant. The peculiar interest in regard
to the specimen is in its occurrence in situ 2 feet below the
elephant remains, and about 14 feet below the surface of the
soil, thus showing the existence of mart on the island prior
to the deposit in the soil of the fossil elephant. The
material consists of the outer bark of the common southern
cane (_Arundinaria macrosperma_), and has been preserved for
so long a period both by its silicious character and the
strongly saline condition of the soil.

FABRICS IMPRESSED ON POTTERY.

It was a common practice among the aborigines to employ woven fabrics in the construction and ornamentation of earthenware. Impressions were thus left on the clay, and by baking these were rendered as lasting as if engraved on stone.

From no other source do we obtain so wide a range of fabrics. The fabric-marked vases and sherds are obtained from mounds, graves, and village sites all over the country. There is not a state within the Mississippi or Atlantic drainage that does not furnish some example of the preservation of native fabric impressions on earthenware. The perfection with which every character of these textures is preserved is well shown in a number of the figures here introduced.

A somewhat extended study of this subject was published in the Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, and illustrations of nearly all the styles of weaving were given. As indicated by subsequent investigations, a number of slight inaccuracies of analysis and drawing occur in that paper, but they are of such minor importance that detailed correction is unnecessary.

It would seem that imprints of cloth woven in the plain interlaced style appear to be quite rare, although it is difficult, from the impressions on clay, to distinguish this from other forms when the threads are closely impacted. In somewhat rare cases the interlacing is so arranged and alternated as to give diagonal effects as in a specimen shown in figure 13. These effects are peculiar to the interlaced fabrics, not being produced in twined or netted work.

It has been supposed that vessels of clay were often modeled in baskets, and that the native earthenware preserved numerous impressions of baskets. On closer analysis these impressions turn out to be the application of pliable cloths, or of cords singly or in groups, or of stamps covered with textiles or having geometric textile-like patterns engraved on them. I can not recall a single example from eastern United States in which it is entirely clear that the clay vessel was modeled in a basket. The impressions of basket work occasionally seen are only partial, having been applied after the vessel was practically finished.

I present in figure 13, a small earthen vessel from a mound in North Carolina, the entire exterior surface of which is marked with a fabric, a pliable cloth or bag woven in the twined styled. The impressions are not the result of a single application of the texture, but consist of several disconnected imprintings as if the hand or a paddle covered with cloth had been used in handling the vessel or in imparting a desired finish to the surface.

Specimens of diagonal fabrics, restored from potsherds, are given in figures 14 and 15. The first is a very neatly woven diagonal from the ancient pottery of Polk county, Tennessee. Two series of cords have been interwoven at right angles to each other, but so arranged as to produce the diagonal effect. One series of the cords is fine and well twisted, the other coarser and very slightly twisted. The second is a piece of matting restored from the impression on a small piece of pottery collected in Alabama. It was probably made of rushes or heavy blades of grass.

Twined weaving prevails in the fabrics impressed on pottery as in those from all other aboriginal sources. An example of the simplest form, obtained from a small fragment of pottery found in Polk county, Tennessee, is shown in figure 16. Two series of threads are interwoven at right angles, the warp being arranged in pairs and the woof singly.

At each intersection the pairs of warp threads are twisted half around upon themselves, inclosing the woof threads and holding them quite firmly, so that the open net-like effect is well preserved even under strain or in long continued use. There are many varieties of this form of fabric resulting from differences in size and spacing of the threads. These differences are well brought out in the succeeding figures.

In figure 17 we have a characteristic example of this fabric, obtained from a fragment of pottery from a mound at Sevierville, Tennessee.

The impression is quite perfect. The cords are somewhat uneven, and seem to have been only moderately well twisted. They were probably made of hemp fiber. It will be observed that the threads of the web are placed at regular intervals, while those of the woof are irregularly placed. It may be noticed that in one case the woof has not been doubled, the single thread having, as a consequence, exactly the same relation to the opposing series as corresponding threads in simple interlacing. The impression, of which this is only a part, indicates that the cloth used in shaping the vessel was considerably distorted when applied to the soft clay.

Nowhere else are found so many fine impressions of fabrics on clay vessels as in the ancient salt-making localities of the Mississippi valley. The huge bowls or vats used by the primitive salt-maker have generally been modeled in coarse, open fabrics, or have had cloths impressed upon them for ornament. In figures 18 and 19 fine examples of these impressions are given. The latter engraving illustrates a specimen in which every detail is perfectly preserved. Only a small portion of the original is shown in the cut. It is noticeable that the cords are quite heavy and well twisted, although the spacing is somewhat irregular.

The example given in figure 20, impressed on a fragment of clay from Arkansas, has an ornamental border produced by looping the cords of the web, which seem to have been five in number, each one passing over four others before recrossing the frame. A specimen showing a somewhat different border is given in figure 21.

The interesting specimen illustrated in figure 22 was obtained from a small fragment of pottery found in Ripley county, Missouri. The combination of the two series of strands clearly indicates the type of fabric, the twisted cords of the woof being placed very far apart. The warp is of braid formed by plaiting strands of untwisted fiber, probably bast. All the details are shown in the most satisfactory manner in the clay cast.

In figure 23 we have a similar fabric closely woven or impacted. I have made the drawing to show fillets of fiber appearing at the ends; these do not appear in the impression. It is highly probable, however, that these fillets are plaited bands, as in the preceding example. They are wide and flat, giving somewhat the effect of basket-work of splints or rushes.

Another variety of the twined fabrics, distinguished by peculiarities in the combinations of the threads, is illustrated in figures 24 and 25. The threads of the warp are arranged in pairs as in the specimens already described, but are twisted in such a way as to inclose two of the opposing series instead of one, each succeeding pair of warp threads taking up alternate pairs of the woof threads. Figure 25 is from a small piece of pottery exhumed from a mound on Fain island, Jefferson county, Tennessee. The threads of the woof are quite close together, those of the web being far apart.

That the native love of decoration had a marked influence on the weavers' art in its simplest and rudest as well as higher forms is well evinced even in the meager vestiges brought to light by researches in the mounds. Decorative borders and fanciful combinations of strands are shown in some of the preceding cuts, and figure 26, copied from a pottery fragment obtained in the Ohio valley, indicates a more ambitious attempt at embellishment. The fabric was evidently of ornate design and the execution excellent.

Plate IX is intended to convey a clear notion of the nature and appearance of fabric-marked pottery and of the manner of securing positive impressions in clay. Three bits of pottery from Illinois are placed at the left, and the three casts appear at the right. All illustrate open fabrics of comparatively simple pattern done in the characteristic twined style.

Nets were in use by the Indians of Florida and Virginia at the time of the discovery, and the ancient pottery of the Atlantic states has preserved impressions of innumerable specimens. The piece shown in figure 27 is from a small fragment of pottery picked up in the District of Columbia. The impression is so perfect that the twist of the cord and the form of the knot may be seen with ease. Most of the examples from this locality are of much finer cord and have a less open mesh than the specimen illustrated. The net illustrated in figure 28 is from a specimen of North Carolina pottery. Netting of this class was still in use among the natives of the Chesapeake region when the English colonies were founded.

The lesson of the prehistoric textile art of eastern United States is simple and easily read, and goes far to round out the story of native occupation and culture. Colonial records furnish definite knowledge of the woven fabrics and weaving of the nations first encountered by the whites. Graves, mounds, and caves give us an insight into the pre-Columbian status of the art, and evidence furnished by associated industries which happen to echo features of the textile art contribute to our information. Charred cloths from the great mounds are identical in material, combination of parts, and texture with the fabrics of the simple savage. Cloths preserved by contact with copper implements and ornaments characteristic of the art of the builders of the mounds do not differ in any way from the humble work of the historic peoples. All tell the same story of a simple, primitive culture, hardly advanced beyond the grade separating the savage from the barbarous condition.

[51] Nat. and Abor. Hist, of Tenn., John Haywood. Nashville,
1823, pp. 163-165.

[52] Ibid., p. 62.

[53] Trans. and Coll. Amer. Antiq. Soc. Worcester, 1820, vol.
1, pp. 318, 319.
[54] Histoire de la Louisiane. Du Pratz. Paris, 1758, vol. II,
p. 191.

[55] Histoire de la Louisiane, Du Pratz. Paris, 1758, vol. II,
p. 193.

[56] Recent Archæological Discoveries in the American Bottom.
Bulletin of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences, March 2,
1877, p. 208.

INDEX

ADAIR, JAMES, on Cherokee basketry 16 weaving 23 Indian method of spinning 23 ALABAMA, Fabric-impressed pottery from 39 APOGYNUM, Indian use of, in weaving 23 ARKANSAS, Fabric-impressed pottery from 42 ART, textile, Memoir on 3-45

BAGS, Woven, described 33, 34
BARK clothing 17
fiber used in weaving 23, 24, 25
Mulberry, used for fringe 32
used in embroidery designs 28
net making 27
spinning 22
BARTRAM, W., on council houses of mats 19
on sieve of Georgia Indians 17
BASKETRY discussed 15
Earthenware derived from 11
Lack of pottery modeled from 38
rarely preserved by charring 36
BEADS used in embroidery 28
BILOXI, Mortuary customs of the 21
BRACKINRIDGE, H. M. on Tennessee mortuary customs 21
BRIDGES of wattle work 13
BUTEL-DUMONT, G. M., on Louisiana indian embroidery 28
featherwork 28
mortuary mats 21
sieves 17
Mobilian wattled biers 14
Natchez dwellings 14
rafts of poles and canes 15

CAGES of wattle work 13 CALIFORNIA INDIANS, Stone chipping by 41 CANES used for matting 18 CAROLINA INDIANS, Textile fabrics of 14, 16 CAVES, Fabrics preserved in 29 CHARRING, Fabrics preserved by 35 CHASE,--, on ceremonial knives 16 CHEROKEE, Basketry of the 16 Weaving by the 23 CHOCTAW, Woven pouches and blankets of the 24 CLAWS of birds used with embroidery 28 CLEU, J. F., Split cane matting found by 37 CLOTH. Methods of manufacture of 22 CONTI, a Georgia Indian food 17 COPPER as a fabric preservative 36 used in embroidery 28 CORDAGE, Primitive manufacture of 21 COSTUMES of Louisiana indian women 32, 33 COTTON shawls of lower Mississippi 25 CRADLES, Textile, described 18 CRESSON, H. T., Remains of fish-weirs found by 15

DELAWARE, Remains of weirs in 15
DE SOTO, H., Expedition of 25
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, Fabric-impressed pottery from 44, 45
DU PRATZ, LE P., on Louisiana basketry 16
cane rafts 15
clothing 22, 25, 32, 33
dyes 20
embroidery 28
feather work 27
nets 27
sieves 17
textile cradles 18
DWELLINGS of wattle work 13
DYEING of basketry by the Cherokee 16
embroidery materials 28
DYES, use of, by Louisiana Indians 20

ELVAS, KNIGHT OF, on Georgia indian blankets 24 ELVAS, KNIGHT OF on Georgia indian costume 22 EMBROIDERY, Lack of remains of 12 of southern Indians 28 EMMEET, J. W., mortuary fabrics procured by 30

FANS of turkey feathers 17 FEATHER blankets of the Choctaw 24 weaving among Louisiana Indians 25 work described 27 Lack of remains of 12 FISH-WEIRS of Virginia indians 14 of wattle work 13 FLORIDA indians, Nets made and used by 45 FOSSIL fabrics discussed 28

GEORGIA, Fabrics from 36
indians, Textile fabrics of 17
Remains of matting from 36
GRASSES employed in spinning 22

HAIR used in weaving 22, 24, 25, 28, 36 HAKLUYT, RICHARD, on Indian sieves 17 HARIOT, THOMAS, on indian costume 22 mat houses 18 indian fish-weirs 14 method of spinning 23 HAYWOOD, JOHN, Mortuary fabrics described by 17, 29 HEMP, Indian, in spinning and weaving 22, 23, 24, 25, 34 HENRY, JOSEPH, Description of cane matting by 37 HOLMES, W. H., Memoir by, on prehistoric textile art 3-45 on Peruvian feather-work 27 HOWLAND, H. R., Copper-preserved cloth found by 37 HUNTER, J. D., on Osage weaving 25

ILLINOIS, Copper-preserved cloth from 37 Fabric-impressed pottery from 41, 45 IOWA, Fabrics from 36 IROQUOIS, Nets of 26

JOUTEL,--, on indian use of mats 20

KALM, PETER, on indian weaving 22 KLETT, F., Description of textiles found by 34

LAFITAU, J. E., Illustration by, of council mats 19
on Pamunki initiatory shelters 14
LAWSON, JOHN, on Carolina baskets 16
mortuary wrappings 26
Santee feather-work 27
wattled "hurdles" 14
LOUISIANA, Split-cane matting from 37, 38
LYE, Use of, in net-making 26

MCGiLL, A. J., Mortuary fabrics procured by 30 MATS, cane, Burial accompaniments found in 30 of Carolina indians 16 flags and rushes 26 MATTING discussed 18 preserved by charring 36 of split cane from Louisiana 37, 38 MISSOURI, fabric-impressed pottery from 42 MITCHELL, S. L., Mortuary fabrics described by 30 MOBILIANS, Wattled biers of the 14 MORTUARY customs of the Louisiana tribes 21 fabrics preserved in caves 29, 30 wrappings 26 MOUND-BUILDERS, Character of pottery of 12 MOUSE-WOOD, Indian use of, in weaving 23 MULBERRY BARK used in weaving 24, 25

NATCHEZ dwellings of wattle-work 14 NETS of Florida and Virginia indians 45 Manufacture and use of 26 NETTLES employed in spinning 22 NORTH CAROLINA, Fabric-impressed pottery from 38, 45

OHIO, Fabric from mound in 36 OSAGE INDIANS, Weaving by 25

PAMUNKI initiatory shelters 14 PASKAGULA mortuary customs 21 PEMMENAW, Use of, in weaving 23 PLIABLE fabrics described 21 PORCUPINE skins used in embroidery 28 POTHERIE, B. DE LA, on indian nets 26 sleeping mats 20 spinning 23 weaving 22 Iroquois ceremonial mats 21 POTTERY, Fabrics impressed on 37 Use of textiles in manufacture of 11 PRESERVATION of fossil fabrics 28 PUTNAM, F. W., Textile articles found by 35

RAFTS of poles and canes 15 wattle work 13 REEDS used for matting 18 ROPE, primitive manufacture of 21 RUSHES used for matting 18

SANDAL, woven, described and figured 34, 35 SANTEE feather-work 27 SAUTEURS, Use of nets by the 26 SHAWLS, Indian, used by Spaniards as sails 25 SHELTERS, Fabrics preserved in 29 SHIELDS of Virginia Indians 18 SIEVES of basketry 17 SINEW, Cloth of 22 SMITH, JOHN, on indian costume 22 method of spinning 23 shields 18 Virginia indian embroidery 28 feather work 27 fish-weirs 14 SMITH, JOHN, on Virginia indian sieves 17 wattled houses 13 SPINDLE WHORLS as evidence of textile manufacture 11 SPINNING, Development of 21 STRAINERS of basketry 17 SWEAT-HOUSES made of mats 19

TARGETS, Woven 18 TENNESSEE, Fabric-impressed pottery from 39, 40, 42, 43, 44 THOMAS, CYRUS, Mound exploration by 9 THREAD, primitive, Manufacture of 21 TURQUOIS among indians of lower Mississippi 25 TUSKARORA, Basketry of the 16

VIRGINIA indian nets 45

WATTLE WORK defined and described 13 WEAVING, Development of 21 Early descriptions of 22