392 THE NAVAJO BELT-WEAVER SHUFELDT. 



woveu fabrics coming off a loom made from uudressed aud uuseasoued 

 pieces of timber from tlae forest, at the bands of an Indian, tbe repre- 

 sentative of a civibzatiou so entirely primitive. European art has to 

 be sure slightly affected this industry, but even to-day its influence is 

 easily traced; and apart from this these serapes and belts as now made 

 saw their origin among the aborigines themselves. 



Among all the native weavers of the southwest the Navajos have no 

 equals and are indeed far in advance of any of the others in this line 

 of manufacture. 



The weaver had constructed the sub vertical, outside part of the frame 

 of her loom of two trunks of small pine trees, averaging a little over 

 3 inches in diameter, , aud from which the bark was not removed. 

 Parallel to each other, and placed about a yard apart, these she had 

 fixed in a slanting position against the front of her house outside. 

 The upper ends were strapped to the house, and the lower ends slightly 

 planted in the earth, being held more secure there by a few stones. 

 Next she had firmly tied on cross pieces, a double one a few inches 

 from the top, and a single one at about a foot above the ground. Over 

 these cross pieces the warp passes, aud in such a manner as to produce 

 a double shed only. Then a smooth short rod is made to take up the 

 alternate threads of the warp above the intersection or in the upper 

 shed. This is easily seen in the engraving. Below the intersection of 

 the threads of the warp the weaver serves the lower shed with a set of 

 healds, whicli are usually composed of yarn, have their own rod, aud 

 as in the case of the rod above the intersection, include alternate 

 threads of the warp. When drawn towards the weaver these healds 

 serve the purpose of opening the lower shed, and still another short 

 rod is used to keep the threads in place, which is also well seen in the 

 figure, where the woman has her hands resting upon the batten, a 

 smooth, flat, aud rather narrow piece of hard wood. This is the last 

 and yet one of the most important adjuncts composing this primitive 

 loom, and is used by the weaver in turning it horizontally to open the 

 shed to admit the passage of the weft, and afterwards to pound the 

 latter down firmly into its place as the weaving proceeds. 



These belt-looms as in use among tlie Navajos are not always exactly 

 alike in their construction ; for we find in some of them that the side 

 posts of the frame are omitted, and tlie upper cross piece is fastened 

 to a tree, aud the lower one served with a loop of rope through which 

 the weaver passes her limbs and then sits down upon, thus holding the 

 warp of her belt firm and tense by her own weight as she sits cross- 

 legged afterwards at her work. Other modifications of this simple 

 loom are also to be seen in the contrivances in use amoug the Zuuians 

 and other Pueblo tribes, and the reare a number of departures from the 

 main details of the weaving (also to be noted) as we have described 

 them above. 



Nearly all the belts and the blankets manufactured by these tribes 



