382 



THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



since the warps 

 the top; but in 

 hang from a 



are attached only at 



this case they do not 



bar but from a strino- 



Aztec mother teaching her daughter to weave. — This shows the type of 

 loom used in the New World cotton area. (Compare page 384). The 

 girl is beating up a pick of weft with a "weave sword" held at right 

 angles to the weft although it was once thought always to have been 

 put in sideways. The partially woven fabric at top of loom shows 

 how the warp threads were separated into equal groups and the weav- 

 ing begun from the bottom up, as in certain unfinished Peruvian 

 cloths found 



The (Jjibway hag loom, the mosi i)rimilive type of 

 loom, consists of two sticks with a string stretched be- 

 tween them. The warp threads depending from the 

 string are free below, and the weft is threaded through 

 with the slender rods at the side. This loom, used in 

 ancient times for other fabrics besides bags, is the same 

 type a.s the Greek, Scandinavian, and probably early 

 Egyptian looms 



stretched between two upright posts. 

 In ancient times other fabrics besides 

 bags were made on this type of loom. 

 In the narrative of Her- 

 nando de Soto, the Knight 

 of Elvas describes the 

 weaving of tapestry shawls 

 containing white, gray, ver- 

 milion and yellow figures, 

 on such a loom. The fibers 

 used were occasionally of 

 l)uffalo hair, but the com- 

 monest were bast fibers 

 such as silk grass, Indian 

 hemp, and the shredded 

 bark of mulberry and cedar 

 trees. 



It is singular to note that 

 in the type of loom in which 

 the warp tlireads are at- 

 tached at one end only to 

 a bar or string and at the 

 other end are free, the prin- 

 cipal fiber is bast. The 

 nature of this fiber causes the thread to 

 be much stifi'er and less likely to tangle 

 than cotton. Wool is purposely left out 

 of this generalization, since, while occa- 

 sionally employed as warp, its most 

 general use is as weft. It is upon the 

 character of the warp that the develop- 

 ment and type of loom apparently 

 depend. 



It must be remembered that a loom is 

 merely a convenience in weaving. The 

 act of interlacing two sets of filaments at 

 right angles can be performed without 

 any tools. Take for example the fabrics 

 of the northern Indians, made from 

 strips of rabbit fur. Here no frame of 

 any description is employed. One set, 

 which we may term the warp, is merely 

 stretched on the ground, and the second 

 set, the weft, is laced each strip in turn 

 over anfl under until the web is com- 

 pleted. 



It is usual to refer to the type of loom 



