NAVAJO BLANKETS 205 
most simple form of loom was used, the work being done entirely by hand as 
in basketry. Again, in the eastern portion of North America, belts and 
other small articles were woven from Indian hemp and from buffalo, bear 
and moose hair. The Navajo, however, in early times, seem not to have 
raised cotton nor to have woven blankets, although their Indian neighbors, 
the Hopi, are known to have done so. 
Metuop or WEAVING 
The spindles and looms used by the Navajo are so similar to those 
employed by the Indians of this region and farther south one is justified 
in supposing that in some respects the art was borrowed, but certainly 
not from Europeans since the differences are too great to be reconciled with 
any direct teaching by the Spanish. Judging from the general character of 
the product and the designs employed, one must believe that to a very great 
extent, the Navajo have developed for themselves their unsurpassed art. 
The wool is sorted, 
spread out on a sloping 
stone and then washed 
by pouring hot water 
containing an extract of 
the yucca root over it. 
The carding is done with 
a pair of ordinary Euro- 
pean hand cards and 
there is no evidence of 
a primitive means ever 
having been employed. 
The spindle, however, is 
the same as that found 
in cliff ruins. It consists 
of a small stick at the 
base of which is a wooden 
disk to give momentum 
and facilitate the wind- 
ing of the yarn. 
The loom is a simple 

frame in which the warp 
is placed vertically. The 
NAVAJO WOMAN SPINNING WOOL 
weaving is done begin- The spindle is very like those found in the prehis- 
ning at the bottom, the _ toric cliff-dwellings in the Southwest 
