ANCIENT PUEBLOS OF UPPER GILA EEGION. 



83 



are of comparatively even texture. Coarse cotton of brown and 

 earth color is found in the form, of strips in the debris, and was 

 used apparently for tying on parts of the costume. Sometimes the 

 cotton is dyed dark brown. Only one fragment showing an attempt 

 at textile ornament was observed, and that simply by alternating 

 dark brown with natural color threads. 



DYES ON CORDS. 



A very interesting feature of the collection of textiles is the evi- 

 dence of the use of dj^es and other methods of coloring cord and cloth. 

 The study of the technology of the specimens was carried out by 

 Wirt Tassin of the National Museum, and his results may be summar- 

 ized as follows: 



The materials are vegetal fiber in the main, with one or two speci- 

 mens containing buffalo and mountain goat hair. The colors were 

 applied by the crude method of rubbing 

 in ochers and earths practiced by many 

 of the present Indian tribes; by dip- 

 ping the yarn or cloth in a vegetal 

 colored solution, technically known as a 

 vat color; in some cases the fiber shows 

 a mordanted color, the fixing substance 

 not known, except in some specimens 

 mordanted with iron tannate. It is not 

 improbable that cord may have been 

 blackened with iron tannate by burial in 

 mud, an art applied to basket materials 

 among many tribes. The colors repre- 

 sented are reds, browns, blue, and pur- 

 ple, a greater variety and better dyes occurring in the specimens from 

 Bear Creek Cave. The blue shades vary from dark to light, one 

 specimen (Cat. No. 246045, U.S.N.M., Bear Creek) tested reacting 

 for indigo, probably of the Indigofera anil common in Mexico. The 

 purple occurring on a loin cord bunch from a mummy in the Tula- 

 rosa Cave resembles a color produced by rubbing the cords with the 

 juice of prickly-pear fruit. 



Sandal from Tulaeosa 

 Cave. 



SANDALS. 



A variety of sandals was found in Tularosa Cave, New Mexico. 

 The simplest of these is made of yucca leaf strips, four in number, 

 bent in half, forming eight elements, and braided. (Fig. 172 a, Cat. 

 No. 246762, U.S.N.M.) The braid is made longer than the foot, the 

 surplus being turned back, forming a reenforcement for the heel, and 

 this flap is held in place by the loop going over the instep. This loop 

 is formed by a strip slipped under a braid strip on either side of the 



