76 



BULLETIN 87, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



spun cord of white dog hair worked in a flat braid of 26 strands, 

 the ends divided into three masses and braided round, the outside 

 bundles knotted just above the commencement of the round braiding. 

 (Fig. 158, {a) entire belt, (&) detail of end, (<?) 10-strand co'rd, {d) 

 braid of IS strands, (e) 8-strand cord.) 



An ornamental fringe was collected in Bear Creek Cave, Blue 

 River, Arizona. It consists of a square braid cord of 8 strands (fig. 

 159 a) , over which is slipped a ring formed by winding cord around 

 a core of fiber. (Fig. 159 5, c.) The ring is allowed some play, but 

 is prevented from slipping back on the square braid by binding with 

 fiber the two loose ends of the wrapping cord. The strands of the 

 braid are formed into a ball at the end after the ring is slipped on. 

 (Fig. 159 d.) A number of these finely made objects were found in 

 a shrine, but they had been burnt away from their attachment. They 

 probably formed the fringe of a sacred sash like those of the Zuhi 

 and Hopi which have a fringe of almost identical construction but 

 -J... much coarser than the 



specimen described. 



WOVEN TEXTILES. 



The fragmentary re- 

 mains of ancient orna- 

 mented textiles which oc- 

 casionally come to light 

 give an idea of the quality 



Fig. 159. — Braided fringe from Bear Creek Cave. ^ the labriCS that have 



perished. One mantle of 

 superb color and design found in a Grand Gulch cliff dwelling of 

 the Mesa Verde and belonging to the American Museum of Natural 

 History of New York shows the great taste and skill of the ancient 

 dyers and weavers. The Zuiii in 1540 had weavings that excited 

 the admiration of Europeans. Witness the consignment by Cor- 

 onado of various articles to Mendoza, one of which is a garment of 

 such remarkable workmanship that he takes pains to impress upon 

 his patron that it was not made with a needle.^ It appears prob- 

 able that the garment was of the fine fabric decorated with open- 

 work pattern of which only fragments have been figured in this 

 monograph, found by Dr. J. Walter Fewkes in Casa Grande, where 

 it was preserved by charring. (See fig. 163.) 



A. F. Bandelier first called attention to this remarkable textile and 

 described it as drawnwork. The fabric is of such a character as to 

 impress those who have found it with a feeling of surprise at its 

 technic and quality of ornamentation, which would seem to be beyond 



1 The Coronado Expedition. 14th Ann. Rept. Bur. Ethnol., Pt. 1, p. 562. 



