172 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 182 



it, they put small beads of different colours upon the yarn, as they work it ; the 

 figures they work in those small webs are generally uniform, but sometimes 

 they diversify them on both sides. The Choktah weave shot-pouches, which 

 have raised work inside and outside. They likewise make turkey feather 

 blankets. , . . 



Fibers from the milkweed plant, the inner bark of slippery elm, 

 and basswood were processed and utilized in the weaving of cordage 

 and textiles. "The art of weaving mantles of mulberry bark fibers 

 was found by the first explorers, but has long been obsolete. Ham- 

 mocks were used as baby cradles instead of cradle-boards" (Speck, 

 1907, p. 293). 



The textiles, which were once manufactured by the Virginia In- 

 dians, are revealed only through the preservation of their imprints 

 upon the exteriors of various clay vessels made on the still plastic 

 clay during one stage of manufacture. When the vessels were fired 

 these imprints were assured a permanence that otherwise might have 

 been destroyed by the temporary nature of the materials from which 

 they were made. 



Before textiles could be made the spinning of fibers into thread or 

 cordage had to take place. Even before this, certain suitable and 

 easily separated fibers, either plant or animal, had to be chosen. From 

 the meager evidence at hand it cannot be stated positively what the 

 fibers used during this early phase were, but it is known that the In- 

 dians made use of buffalo hair, wild hemp, silkgrass, and other plant 

 fibers when first contacted by the white man. Spindles as well as 

 crude spindle whorls were then in use. Cordage varied in degrees of 

 fineness. Fabrics show that certain elements are thin and uniform in 

 thickness, while other elements are thick and may show slight varia- 

 tions in diameter in various sections of the textile. Perhaps this dif- 

 ference in varying degrees of fineness reflects not only individual dif- 

 ferences in skill but, somewhat, the purpose for which the textile was 

 to be used. 



Peter Halm (Holmes, 1896, p. 33) noted that the Iroquois spun wild 

 hemp {Apocynum cannabinuin) cordage by rolling upon their bare 

 thighs the retted fibers which were afterward dyed and woven into 

 textiles. Adair (1775) noted that fixed loom frames were in use 

 among the Cherokee, "and instead of the shuttle, they thrust through 

 the threads with a long cane, having a large string through the web, 

 which they shift at every second course of the thread." 



Holmes (1901, pp. 397-403) determined that : 



The several kinds of textile markings are not equally distributed over the 

 country, but each seems, to a certain extent, to characterize the wares of a 

 particular region or to belong to particular groups or ware, indicating, perhaps, 

 the condition and practices of distinct peoples or variations in initial elements 

 affecting the art. There may also be a certain order in the development of the 



