THE won IS THE XEW WORLD 



387 



The area of cotton culture in ancient 

 times consisted of the southern portion 

 of Utah, Mexico, and Central America, 

 and almost the entire expanse of the 

 Southern Continent, down to the central 

 portion, of the modern Repul.lic of Peru. 

 The two-barred loom 

 had exactly the same 

 distribution. The loom 

 of the modern Hopi 

 Indians is practically 

 the same as that used 

 by the pre-Incan peo- 

 ples of Peru. The il- 

 lustrations show this 

 more clearly than could 

 any discussion. 



The impulse to dis- 

 cuss the wonderful 

 products of these sim- 

 ple looms, in which the 

 Museum collections are 

 so rich, is almost irre- 

 sistible. A famous silk 

 designer spent a couple 

 of hours recently in the 

 Peruvian hall and said 

 that there was inspira- 

 tion sufficient for cen- 

 turies of creation in 

 this single hall, and had 

 the recent fabrics of 

 the lea and Nasca col- 

 lections, presented to 

 the Museum by Mr. A. 

 D. Juillard, been un- 

 earthed in Asia or 

 Egypt they would 

 have been the object of world-wide 

 artistic and archaeological interest. 



It is but fair to say that our textile 

 designers are showing an increasing inter- 

 est in these collections and that we may 

 safely hope that a portion of their beauty 

 will soon find expression on modern 



Navajo bell loom. — Belts are one of the 

 earliest forms of decorative textiles, and 

 many of the most interesting designs have 

 originated to adorn them 



looms. ^Ve are returning to sit at the 

 feet of the old masters of the New 

 World. 



Asia, up to now, has been the source 

 of practically all our textile science and 

 art. The contributions of Europe and 

 America have been of a 

 purely mechanical na- 

 ture. The two-barred 

 loom was indigenous 

 in Asia as well as in 

 the cotton area in the 

 New World. The use 

 of cotton in the Ori- 

 ent is so immensely 

 ancient that no accu- 

 rate date of origin can 

 be given. The simi- 

 larity in weaving is 

 further borne out by a 

 likeness in the method 

 of spinning this fiber. 

 It is therefore reason- 

 able to assume that the 

 technical peculiarities 

 of cotton fiber are 

 largely responsible for 

 the form of the loom 

 in both continents. 

 However sound such a 

 supposition may be, of 

 one thing we can be 

 certain: that the result 

 is the highest tribute 

 possible to the inge- 

 nuity of the human 

 mind. The enterprise 

 and mechanical genius 

 of the past three centuries have added 

 many labor-saving devices, such as the 

 application of power and marvelous 

 automatic features; but the principle, 

 the basic philosophy, has remained un- 

 changed since its development by the 

 intellects of the forgotten centuries. 



