NO. 2235. 



HOl'l INDIAN CQLLEVTION— HOUGH. 



259 



The effect of this is not to alter materially the surface of the cloth 

 but to narrow the weaving w^hich would have been necessarily much 

 wider on the addition of the worsteds used in decoration. There is 

 also an advantage in narrowing the sash at the end with the effect 

 of making it more graceful. Specimen Cat. No. 166318, U.S.N.M., 

 Hopi Indians, Arizona, collected by James Mooney, has a small warp 

 and a thicker weft. At the beginning of the embroidery the weft 

 and Avarp cords are made of equal size. This again produces a taper- 

 ing form and distinctly finer cloth. These sashes are made 9 inches 

 wide and 44 inches long to 10^ inches wide and 48 inches long. 



Brwlding the sacred white sash. — A typical example of the sacred 

 sash (Cat. No. 22953 U.S.N.M., collected by Maj. J. W. Powell) is 

 composed of 216 threads of white cotton 

 about the size of small package cord braided 

 into a band 8 inches wide and 61 inches long 

 to the termination of the solid braiding 

 (fig. 36). The work is started midway of 

 the cords where a twining is applied tempo- 

 rarily and proceeds toward either end, where 

 the cords are divided into 12 tresses braided 

 into narrow tapes for a short distance. 

 Kings are now slipped on over the cord and 

 secured and the cords divided into sixes are 

 twisted together, hanging down as 36 twists 

 forming a long fringe. The rings (fig. 36). 

 which number 18, have an annular core of 

 corn husk wound with cord and are secured 

 to the cord bundles by tying at the termi- 

 nation of the braided portion of the tape. 

 This most remarkable example of braiding 

 is worked with great skill, and the finished 

 texture is even and compact. No tools are 

 required for this work, and it is only neces- 

 sary after the braid is begun at the middle to secure this portion 

 between two wooden clamps in order to suspend the mass of cords 

 from a support in the wall. The cotton employed in these sashes 

 is native (the only Pueblo aboriginal cotton that has survived), 

 grown exclusively for ceremonial purposes and prepared by men 

 in accordance with traditional religious usages. Plaited sacred 

 sashes were used by all the Pueblos; it is not known, however, 

 that all the tribes made them ; probably most of the tribes procured 

 the sacred cotton or the finished sashes from those Pueblos who 

 lived in the area where the cotton plant could be grown. The 

 art of making the sashes is ancient, as the remains of a square, 



Fig. 36.- 



Bratoed sacred white 



SASH. 



