MISCELLANEOUS USES 



themselves when they emerged from the underworld 

 (their first home) into this world of light. Though 

 the spread -of white education among our aborigines 

 has caused this ancient textile art to become almost 

 a lost one, it is not entirely so. Here and there an 

 old Indian is still run across who holds to the tradi- 

 tions of the elders and works the ancient works. 

 One such not long ago, living on the California 

 desert, made me from the fiber of the Mescal plant 

 (Agave deserti) a pair of sandals of immemorial 

 pattern, the spongy sole an inch thick turned up at 

 the heel, and with an elaborate arrangement of cords 

 to keep the foot in place. 



Both Agave and Yucca are treated in the same 

 manner to separate the fiber. After soaking the 

 leaves in water to soften them, they are pounded 

 and repeatedly rinsed until the pulpy part is dis- 

 posed of. The fibers are then combed out, twisted 

 into strands, and woven as desired. According to 

 Dr. Palmer, the old-time Southern California 

 weavers were famous for their Yucca fiber ropes, 

 nets, hairbrushes and saddle blankets. In the last 

 a padding of softer fiber obtained from the quiote 

 (Yucca Whipplei) was employed to relieve the 

 harshness of the Yucca baccata fiber. 3 The tough 



s The American Naturalist, Sept., 1878. 



217 



