ANCIENT PUEBLOS OP UPPER GILA REGION. 



67 



the textile side of civilization, being adequate to all uses from the 

 strip of natural leaf, through cord, to finished fabrics.^ 



KNOTS IN YUCCA STRIPS. 



Innumerable knots tied in strips of yucca and cord were found in 

 the Tularosa and Bear Creek caves. They are simple, and no exam- 

 ples show particular inventiveness in the joining of materials, except 

 the ends of the 

 carrying bands. 

 The overhand knot 

 (fig. 145 a) is com- 

 mon; a knot for 

 securing a strip 

 around a stick 

 consists of the 

 ordinary knot 

 formed by two 

 half hitches, (fig. 

 145 h.) Th^e 

 square knot shown 

 in obverse and re- 

 verse (fig. 14:5, c^d) 

 was often used, 

 and v/as effective 

 in the yucca leaf, 

 which has a tend- 

 ency to shear un- 

 less the p a r e n - 

 chyma is worked 

 out of the fiber. 

 A similar knot is 

 shown at e, f (fig. 

 145). The pack 

 cord knots are 

 very interesting 

 and ingenious and 

 likewise of extraordinary strength (fig. 145 g, h). They were 

 formed by taking two leaves of yucca, laying them butt to 

 point one over the other, bending up the end of one and securing 

 it with a tie. A wooden toggle was placed in the bend, the leaves 

 pierced above the peg and strong cords rove through and around the 

 sections, the method being to loop the cord over the standing part 

 above the peg, bring the ends around the sides and draw them 



Fig. 145. — Knots in Yucca strips from Tularosa Cavb. 



^ The Talm and Agave as Culture Plants. Compte Rendu du Congrfes International des 

 Americanistes, XV Sess., Quebec, 1906, vol. 1, p. 215-221. 



