424 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1902. 



strips of rabbit skin used as weft and laid together bj^ twined weaving. 

 Attention is especially called to a method of ornamental overla3'ing 

 among the Thompson River Indians that has not a wide distribution. 

 An ordinary wallet is made of twined work from the fiber of Ajyocynurri 

 can nah 1)111111 and Ascle-pui.s speckmL In the fabric these do not differ 

 from the world-wide twined weaving, but in the ornamentation a strip 

 of grass or other colored material — may])e corn husk — is wrapped 

 around the twined work as it proceeds. Comparing this with the 

 Makah wrapped work the twined weft takes the place of the strip laid 

 behind the vertical warps, the wrapping is precisely the same, ])ut in 

 the Thompson River work the patterns are quite similar on Ijoth 

 sides, only the elements are oblicpie on the outside and vertical on the 

 inside. 



The weaving of ])lankets In' basketry processes was former^ an 

 important industry among them. The coast Indians utilized both dog 

 hair and goat hair in their manufacture, l)ut the Thompson Indians 

 seemed to have used the latter oid}-. Sometimes the wool was made 

 whiter or cleaned by mixing a quantity of l)aked white diatomaceous 

 earth with it and ))eating the whole with a flat stick. The manner of 

 making the thread is exactly the same as that described ])y Dr. Boas 

 for the process employed by the Songish. The loom and spindle are 

 also the same, excepting that both disk and shaft of the latter are of 

 wood. The whole process of ))lanket making and the implements used 

 are said to be exactly the same as those found among the Lower Eraser 

 Indians. Most blankets had a f i-ing(^ of tassels, (3 to 9 inches in length, 

 along one end. Black liear's hair madc^ into threads, and spun threads 

 of goafs hair dyed either yellow with lichens or red with alder bark, 

 were woven into the Ijlankets in patterns similar to those used in ))as- 

 ketry. The Indians of Spuzzum contimie to make these blankets at 

 the present day. 



For making nets, threads of the bark of Apcc/f/nn// <-aii)i((hl)iuiii Avere 

 used. A wooden netting stick (Teit's fig. 184) served for making the 

 meshes of ecpial size. Th(> meshes wer(? tied with a sc[uare knot. 



The Rev. Myron Eells states that tiic imbricated basketry is made 

 ))y the Puyallups, Twanas. Snohomish, Clallam, Skagit, Cowlitz, Che- 

 halis, Nisciually, Spokan, and Scpiakson who are Salish, as well as 

 by the Yakima and Klikitat Indians of middle and western Wash- 

 ington who are Shahaptian. Only womiMi and girls are basket 

 makers; they use in securing material the ordinary root digger. 

 Pieces of the desired length and about the thickness of a finger are 

 buried in the gi'ound to keep them fresh. When re(pured they are 

 taken out and peeled with a sharp stone or knife and hung up to 

 dry. When needed they are split into long strips by means of the 

 bone awl. The pieces of the desired width and thickness throughout 

 are used for stitching; the others form the foundation of the coil, 



