Ethnological Notes. 



155 



manufacture of the finest blanket of the North-west Coast. 

 It is also used for making common cedar-bark mats and 

 capes. 



In the area where this loom is used many of the tribes 

 form cords of vegetable fibre or wool by twisting strands 

 together with the fingers and then roll them tighter on the 

 leg or thigh as at Nootka and the Chilcat region and making 

 no use of a distaflf. The same people may use a small 

 spindle and whorl when making string for their nets. 



The second kind of loom (sec illustration) is a large, 

 heavy apparatus consisting of two posts supporting two 

 adjustable rollers which are tightened in their slots by 

 small wedges. Heavy rectangular blankets are made on 

 this loom, often with decorated edges. For spinning the 

 wool a whorl of about 73^ inches in diameter is used. This 

 is made of big-leaved maple, is concavo-convex, with the 

 convexity sometimes carved, and has a strongly lipped 

 ovoid hole in the centre. The spindle is often 3 or 4 feet 

 long, thick at the handle, and tapering from a shoulder, 

 which rests against the whorl. 



