16 CAVE RELICS OF THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS. 



single red thread. The six primary and intercalated stripes, with the body of 

 the fabric, cover a space of eight inches, arranged at exact intervals. Outside of 

 this series, at each end, are three more of the tertiary stripes about an inch 

 apart. Longitudinal to the fabric are ten rows of tufts of the crimson-tipped 

 feathers from the breast of the gray-necked finch, (Leucosticte griseinucha,) 

 mingled with the fine soft deer hairs before mentioned, inserted at the edge of 

 the stripes. The middle (secondary) stripe has tufts on each side, pointing 

 respectivelytoward the top and bottom of the mat. All the tufts to the stripes 

 above it are inserted on the upper side and point to the top of the mat ; and all 

 below it are inserted on the lower sides of the stripes and point to the bottom of 

 the mat. The lateral edges of the mat have a selvage edge, but, in addition to 

 this, to obviate fraying out, the whole was bound with a dark colored strip of 

 parchment. Where the tufts join the stripes white threads are inserted into the 

 red lines, as in previous cases. There are eighteen threads to the inch longitudi 

 nally and twenty-four transversely. 



The outer mat of all is of much coarser texture and of a different mesh from 

 the others. Previously the warp-threads have been composed of bundles of 

 fibre crossed by similar double woof- threads. The two threads of the woof 

 alternately passed above and below the warp-threads, which, in weaving, were 

 separated in halves. In one line the adjacent halves of adjacent threads of the 

 warp were caught in the twist of the two woof-threads, and in the next the sepa 

 rate halves were caught together again, and, this alternation being constant, the 

 spaces between the threads, if stretched apart, would be of a lozenge shape. 

 The woof-threads, as they crossed each other between the threads of the warp, 

 received a single twist. 



In the outer mat, however, the bundles of fibre composing the warp are kept 

 constantly intact, and the apertures, therefore, would be rectangular. 



In this mat the only pattern consists of large squares, formed by two or three 

 black threads of warp about seven inches apart, and cross lines, of which one of 

 the pairs of woof-threads is black ; the other pair, one black and one white ; 

 forming a line, one half of which is chequered as the black or white thread 

 alternately comes to the top. In this mat there are ten threads of warp and 

 three pairs of woof-threads to the inch. 



The body, as now encased, formed an oblong, somewhat irregularly, shaped 

 bundle. The case into which it was placed must now be described. 



A stout bar of wood sixteen inches long and about two and a half inches thick, 

 with the ane;les rounded off, formed the basis of the structure. Into holes in 



O 



this bar, near each end, were inserted two staves, one of each pair two feet long 

 and the other three and a half feet long. 



The long and short rod at each end were put in and lashed with baleen strips 

 at an angle of 30 with each other, and also diverging somewhat outward. An 



