746 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



on almost any day of the year, except when the secret rites of cere- 

 monies are being held, you will behold an industrious and an inter- 

 esting scene. You will find a group of men, naked except for a 

 loin cloth, all busy either with the carding combs, the spindle, or 

 the loom; and to me the most interesting of these three operations 

 is that of the spinning of wool. The spindle itself is long and 

 heavy, and the whorl, in the older examples, is a large disk cut 

 from a mountain goat's horn. There is no attempt at decoration, 

 nor do the spindles compare with those found in Peru and other 

 parts of America for neatness and beauty. An unusual feature of 

 the method employed by the Hopi spinner is the manner in which 



OiiAuu Man tkansportino Fikewood with Bi iiitos. 



the spindle is held under one foot while he straightens out the 

 thread preparatory to winding it. 



For weaving, two kinds of looms are used. One is a frame 

 holding in place a fifteen-inch row of parallel reeds, each about six 

 inches long and perforated in the center. This apparatus is used 

 solely for making belts, sashes, and hair and knee bands. These 

 are not commonly woven in the kiva, but in the open air on the ter- 

 race, one end of the warp being fastened to some projecting rafter. 

 The other loom is much larger, and is used for blankets, dresses, and 

 all large garments. It differs in no essential particular from other 

 well-known looms in use by the majority of the aborigines of this 

 continent. The method of suspending the loom is perhaps worth 

 a moment's notice, as in nearly every house and in all kivas special 



