TEXTILE FABRICS OF ANCIENT PERU. 7 



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as my observation extends, is with some Egyptian fabrics of the first 

 few centuries of the Christian era. 



With the Americans, as with the ancient peoples of the East, the 

 appliances of manufacture were exceedingly simple, but primitive 

 weavers make ui^ for the lack of refined machinery by a degree of 

 painstaking only permissible with workmen who place slight value 

 upon time, i^o looms have been discovered. A frame to stretch the 

 threads of the web, and simple tools or devices for the separation ot 

 these and the insertion of the woof, apj^ear to have been the only requi- 

 sites in the production of ordinary fabrics. Wiener found in a grave 

 at Pachacamac an unfinished piece of gobelins still attached to the two 

 round poles, one of which probably had been fastened to some fixed 

 object and the other perhaps to the person of the workman. By con- 

 sulting the ancient manuscripts of Mexico we find that a similar device 

 was in use in that country. Fabrics are woven upon similar frames by 

 the Peruvian natives of to-day as well as by many other American 

 tribes. For larger work more complete looms with healds and other 

 devices similar to those used by the Pueblos of to-day may have been 

 employed. Closer examination of the fabrics themselves may lead to 

 a better knowledge of the methods of weaving. 



The strands employed in all classes of work were spun from cotton 

 and other vegetable fibers, or from the wool of the llama, the alpaca, 

 the vicuiia, and the guaniico, and were generally moderately fine and 

 exceedingly even and well twisted. Dyes of numerous rich and brill- 

 iant colors were used, but their nature is not known to us. 



Spindles of wood were used, and the artistically shaped and decorated 

 whorls with which they were weighted were generally made of clay. 



Fig. 2. — A spindle of wood weighted with a neat whorl of polished and painted terra-cotta. 



The spindles of many nations are very similar to this. The threads 

 were twisted by twirling the shaft between the fingers and the thumb 

 or between the palm and some convenient part of the person. In 

 Fig. 3 we have examples of a number of implements used in spinning, 

 sewing, netting, weaving, and embroidering. Nearly all are made of 

 wood, and many are shaped with neatness and evident regard for taste- 

 ful appearance. Copper and bone also appear to have been consider- 

 ably used. 



In a and h we have neatly shaped needles, the first with an eye at the 

 upper end and a straight shaft, and the second with an encircling groove 

 in place of an eye, and a slender curved point; c is an ordinary bone 

 awl; and d a delicate needle pointed at both ends. A wooden spool is 

 shown in e, a netting mesh in/, a weaving band in g, and a thin, sym- 

 metrical, shuttle-like piece of wood, well adapted to the j)arting of the 

 fine web strands, in h. The peculiar tool shown in i has a head shaped 



