156 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VoL. IV. 



firinc2^. Despite these undoubted advantages, this walking-stick tends to 

 become obsolete in several localities. 



But one implement now remains on our list of undescribed wood-and- 

 skin items. This is the ice-scoop or pifas of which an idea may be 

 gathered from fig. 146. It is brought into requisition to scoop out of 

 the hole one is making in the ice the broken pieces driven in with the 

 dU^ or ice-breaker. The frame is usually of mountain maple. Fig. 147 

 will explain the connection between the strings and the frame. 



TEXTILE AND TWINED FABRICS. 



We now come to the twined and textile fabrics of the Western Den^s. 

 The latter are very few ; indeed the weaving industry might almost be 

 described as null among those tribes, since the rabbit skin blankets were 

 originally the only genuine textile fabric manufactured among either the. 

 Carriers, the Ts^'k^hne or the TsijKoh'tin. 



The weaving of these could hardly be more primitive. The first step 

 is of course to spin, or rather to twist on the naked thigh, the strips of 

 the rabbit skins. These are previously steeped in water to facilitate the 

 cutting and spinning operations. Each skin is made to yield one single 

 band, and each band is knotted end to end so as to form a continuous 

 cord. 



A frame or loom is first erected with poles of the proper dimensions 

 and secured either by planting the two side pieces in the ground, or, more 

 commonly, by leaning them against each wall of any corner in the house. 

 Over the two cloth-beams, the skin cord is wound so as to form the 

 warp. As for the woof, a separate strip is knotted in its middle part to 

 the last left hand thread of the warp in such a way that two threads 

 result which are then twisted together, then entwined with the next warp 

 thread, again twisted together, again entwined with the next perpendicular 

 thread, and so on until the last thread of the warp is reached, when the 

 operation is resumed from the right to the left. Each successive woof 

 thread is added immediately under the preceding one so that the weaving, 

 if weaving there be, is always in a downward direction. Whenever the 



web becomes too low for the convenience of the 



weaver, web and warp are made to revolve on the 



loom beams up to the suitable height. The web is 



"^ then momentarily steadied by means of a string 



attached on either side to the perpendicular poles of the loom. No 



batten or any similar device is used. Fig. 148 will give some idea of the 



whole process. The cut a represents a cross-section of the web. 



