154 



BLANKETS 



[b. a. 



The Nez Percys and other tribes iu the 

 Fraser-Columbia area were extremely 

 skilh'ul in producing a heavy and taste- 

 fully decorated blanket in twined weav- 

 ing from mountain goat's hair with warp 

 of vegetal fiber, and among the Atlan- 

 tic and Pacific coast tribes generally 

 soft barks, wild hemp, rabbit skins, the 

 down of birds, and the plumes of feathers 

 were put to the same use. Blankets of 

 cords wound with feathers were pro- 

 duced, not only by the Pueblos and cliff- 

 dwellers but quite extensively in the E. 

 as well as in the N. W. These were all 

 woven with the simplest possible appa- 

 ratus and by purely aboriginal technical 

 processes. They were the groundwork 

 of great skill and taste and much my- 

 thology, and were decorated with strips 

 of fur, fringes, tassels, pendants, bead- 

 work, featherwork, and native money. 

 After the advent of the whites the blan- 

 ket leaped into sudden prominence with 

 tribes that had no weaving and had 

 previously worn robes, the preparation 

 of which was most exhausting. The 

 Euroi^ean was not slow in ol)serving a 

 widesi^read want and in supplying the 

 demand. When furs became scarcer blan- 

 kets were in greater demand everywhere 

 as articles of trade and standards of value. 

 Indeed, in 1831 a home plant was estab- 

 lished in Buffalo for the manufacture of 

 what was called the Mackinaw blanket. 

 The delegations visiting Washington dur- 

 ing the 19th century wore this article 

 conspicuously, and in our system of edu- 

 cating them, those tribes that were un- 

 willing to adopt modern dress were called 

 " blanket Indians." In art the drapery 

 and colors have had a fascination for 

 portrait painters, while in citizen's gar- 

 ments the red man ceases to be pictur- 

 esque. 



In the S. W. the coming of Spaniards 

 had a still more romantic association with 

 the blanket. Perhaps as early as the 

 16th century the Navaho, in affiliation 

 with certain Pueblo tribes, received sheep 

 and looms from the conquerors. These 

 were the promise of all that is wrapped 

 in the words "Navaho blanket." The 

 yarn for the finest was procured by un- 

 raveling the Spanish bayeta, a sort of 

 baize, and the specimens from this ma- 

 terial now command high prices. For 

 coarser work the Navaho sheared their 

 own sheep, washed the wool, colored it 

 with their native dyes, and spun it on 

 rude spindles consisting of a straight 

 stick with a flat disk of wood for a fly- 

 wheel. This coarse and uneven yarn 

 was set up in their regular but primitive 

 loom, with harness for shifting the warp, 

 a straight rod for shuttle, a fork of wood 

 for adjusting the weft, and a separate 

 batten of the same material for beating it 



home. Only the hands of the weaver 

 managed all the parts of the operation 

 with phenomenal patience and skill, pro- 

 ducing those marvelous creations which 

 are guarded among the most precious 

 treasures of aboriginal workmanship. 

 The popularity of this work j^roved its 

 worst eneuiy. Through the influence of 

 traders and greatly increased demands 

 for blankets the art has deteriorated. 

 Native products were imitated by ma- 

 chinery. To the Indians were brought 

 modern dyes, cotton warp, factory yarns 

 and worsted, and utterly depraved pat- 

 terns, in place of native wool, bayeta, 

 and their own designs so full of pathos 

 and beauty. At present a reformation in 

 such matters is being encouraged, both 

 by the Government and by benevolent 

 organizations, for the purpose of restoring 

 the old art. In this connection should 

 be mentioned the interesting variety of 

 effects produced in the Indian blankets 

 by simple native contrivances. There 

 are all the technical styles of native hand- 

 work superadded to the machine work 

 of the loom, including coiled, twined, and 

 braided tec^hnic. Two-faced fabrics are 

 produced, having intricate patterns en- 

 tirely different on the two sides. Differ- 

 ent Pueblos had their fancies in blankets. 

 Among these must not be overlooked the 

 white cotton wedding blanket of the Hopi, 

 ceremonially woven by the groom for his 

 bride, afterward embroidered with sym- 

 bolic designs, and at death wrapjied about 

 her body in preparation for the last rites. 

 In the same tribe large embroidered 

 cotton blankets are worn by woman im- 

 personators in several ceremonies; also a 

 small shoulder blanket in white, dark 

 blue, and red, forming part of woman's 

 "full dress" as well as a ceremonial gar- 

 ment. From this list should not be 

 omitted the great variety of Navaho prod- 

 ucts, commencing with the cheap and 

 ubiquitous saddle paddings, personal 

 wrappings, house furnishings, and ending 

 in competitions with the world's artistry. 

 There were also the dark embroidered 

 and white embroidered blanket of Na- 

 vaho legend. They also wove blankets 

 with broad bars of white and black 

 called "chief's pattern," to be worn by 

 the head-men. The Zufii, too, wove a 

 blanket for their priest-chiefs. But they, 

 as well as the Hopi, had plenty of the 

 serviceable kinds, of cotton and of wool, 

 which they made into skirts and tunics; 

 coarse kinds likewise for domestic use, 

 robes of rabbit skin, and finer work for 

 ceremony. The Pima and Maricopa have 

 abandoned the art lately, but their con- 

 geners — the Yaqui, Tarahumare, Mayo, 

 and Opata — weave characteristic styles. 



Consult Boas in Rep. Nat. Mus. 1895, 

 1897; Hodge in Am. Anthrop., viii, no. 



