52 BUREAU OF AMEEICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 55 



alone or in combination with cotton, was of great importance as a 

 weaving material. Fur of heavier, otter, or rabbit was incorporated 

 with yucca cord or twisted around it to make warmer or more orna- 

 mental fabrics. 



In describing a pre-Spanish cave burial site probably of the Keres, 

 just outside the Tewa domain, Dr. Edgar L. Hewett says : ^ 



"The body was first wrapped in a white cotton garment . . . The outer 

 wrapping was a robe of otter or beaver fur . . . made by twisting a small rojje 

 of yucca fiber about an eighth of an inch in diameter; then with the shredded fiber 

 of the eagle or turkey feather, the fur was bound upon the cord, producing a fur 

 rope of about a quarter of an inch in diameter, which was then woven into a robe 

 with very open mesh." 



Numbers of fur-wrapped cords were found in a large cave higher 

 up the canyon. Similar cords are now worn by the Tcvshare (clowns) 

 at the Keres pueblo of San Domingo.^ 



P^amy, {p^a^ Yucca baccata; wm, unexplained). 

 Yucca glauca. New Mexican Spanish J^?aZm^7Z(^. 



This species is smaller than thejy'rt (Yucca baccata), but resembles it 

 consideral)ly. 



The roots are used for making lather. The fruit is eaten as in tlie 

 case of WiQ pa. 



According to the informant, string and rope were never made of 

 p'amyj. 



Narrow slips of j^Vc;/^!* are used like paint brushes in decorating 

 pottery. 



The fibrous leaves of both species of yucca, merely split into narrow 

 strips without twisting, serve for tying material. Thus, watermelons 

 are kept fresh for winter use by hanging them from the rafters, 

 encased in a network of yucca strips; sliced apples and chile peppers 

 threaded on yucca strips are hung up to dry; the sif ting-baskets, 

 called pajo^ 'not tight, openwork, like a net' (which the Tewa of 

 Santa Clara buy from Jemez, and the Tewa of Hano from the Second 

 Mesa villages), are woven of yucca strips. Bandoleers and neckties 

 of knotted yucca strips are sometimes worn by the liosa (clowns) 

 and by some other dancers. 



At Hano small ceremonial bows of cedar are strung with yucca. In 

 some initiation ceremonies at Hano, the novices are beaten with yucca 

 whips. 



Wsx. 



? . 



This is a yucca-like weed. It grows near ' Oss^we., a ridge a mile 

 north of Nanibe Pueblo;^ also in the Cochiti Mountains. Fiber from 

 this plant was used in making string, and for other purposes. 



1 Excavations at El Rito de los Frijolcs in 1909, Aiiicr. Antlir., n. s., xi, p. 663, 1909. 

 -CI. Rdaru'm Postrera de Sivola, Winship, Fourteenth Ann. Ecp. Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 569. 

 3 See Harrington, The Ethnogeography of the Tewa Indians, Twenty-ninth Ann. Rep. Bur. Amer, 

 Ethn., p. 371. 



