CAVE RELICS OF THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS. 13 



seal, colored red. Fragments of this still adhered to the border. In this mat 

 there were about thirty strands to the inch of weft and twenty-five of warp. 



The whole body was next wrapped up in another mat of coarser texture, but 

 more intricate pattern, which was strongly stitched together in front with finely 

 divided whalebone or baleen. (17470.) 



This mat had both longitudinal and transverse stripes. The central trans 

 verse stripe was composed of a single series of one black and two straw-colored 

 stitches or threads, on each side of which were four rows of red stitches, and out 

 side of these, on each side, another row like the central one, and lastly, a single 

 row of red stitches -sewed into the fabric, which last kind were in all cases of the 

 external portion of the grass, somewhat elevated above the rest of the fabric. 

 On each then followed an interspace of plain matting about an inch wide, then 

 three lines of red stitches separated from the interspace by a single row on each 

 side of alternate black and white stitches, then another interspace divided from 

 the next by another variation of the pattern of the stripe, composed of the same 

 kinds of stitch, and so on to the border, where there was a chequered selvage 

 edge, with tails or strips of seal skin sewed on at the end of the stripes. 

 Longitudinally, the stripes are crossed by wide bands, in which the ordinary 

 threads are more or less chequered with black, and this chequered band is 

 bordered with a pair of stout black threads on each side. Where these last cross 

 the transverse red stripes, the red is replaced by ordinary yellow fibre disposed 

 in the form of a cross in some cases, but the pattern is varied at different inter 

 sections. In this mat there were eleven double woof-threads to sixteen the other 

 way. The package which had been thus formed was then put into a fine parka, 

 (17471,) or long shirt, of bird skins ; the neck and lower portion and arms being 

 tightly tied up so that the contents were enclosed in a close sack. The feathers 

 were innermost, as they are usually worn, and the outer side (being the inner 

 side of the skins) was painted red with red oxide of iron. The skins were those 

 of the puffin (M. cirrhata,) which is, with the murre, almost the only species used 

 for the purpose. The feathers of these birds are less liable to come out than 

 those of other species, hence the preference. There is also, as a rule, less fat on 

 the inner side of the skins, by reason of which they are more easily dressed. In 

 this case the feathers were still firmly attached and the skins still in good 

 condition. 



The outer side of this parka was ornamcntqcl by a band or yoke passing over 

 the shoulders and completely across in front. The lower edge of this was orna 

 mented with a fine long fringe, and, at intervals, long slender strips of sea otter 

 fur were inserted as pendants. The seams, also, were all quadruple, the edges 

 of the skin turned back and fine strips of hair seal skin inserted, three-sixteenths 

 of an inch wide, with the hair cut evenly, as short as possible. 



To describe in detail the wonderfully fine work contained in the ornamental 



