114 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 65 
stranded. Very few two-strand strings are twisted clockwise; there 
are, in our collection of several hundred pieces, only four or five such 
examples. 
Yucca strings seem to have been made very long, rolled into hanks 
or balls, and cut off in lengths as required. The rotting mass of 
cordage found in a jar in Ruin 5 could hardly have contained less 
than 200 yards. Nordenskidld figures a hank of fine two-strand 
string from Step House, Mesa Verde, that is over 400 meters long — 
and weighs but 277 grams.+ 
Apocynum (?)—Whie the majority of strings were made of 
yucca, there also occur examples that appear to have been twisted 
of other fibers. What these are we cannot say, but one type, which 
produces a whitish string, less harsh and rather more pliable than 
that made of yucca, is not uncommon. The fibers are finer than 
those of yucca, and become, with wear, fluffy and woolly. The ma- 
terial is, perhaps, some form of apocynum. 
Human hair—This was occasionally used. Our best specimen 
(A-1549, Ruin 7) is a two-strand, clockwise twist. Most examples 
of hair string are found asa into netted textile or used as lash- 
ings for cradles. 
BRAIDING 
Cotton was plaited round for cord, flat for tape. Both of these 
products seem to have been employed as tassels, fringes, and other 
ornamental additions to belts and clothing; round braids also served 
as draw strings for bags (p. 149). One tassel begins with a flat, 
twilled braid of 32 very fine strands; these are ultimately doubled 
up to form 16 heavier elements, which are braided together in the 
same way for an inch or so; they are then worked into a square braid 
5 inches long, the whole ending in a round, fluffy ball (A~-1557, 
Ruin 7). Another (A-1559, Ruin 7) is a flat, twilled braid of 24 
strands, which ends in four round-braided cords of six strands each. 
Two bits of round-braided cord, made of some kind of animal hair 
in eight strands, four white and four black, were found in Ruin 4 
(A-1274). <A similar piece (A-1360) came from the near-by Ruin 
3, and a third from “ Sunflower Cave” (A-2611). 
Yucca, both fiber and leaf, apocynum (7), corn husk, cedar bark, 
and other vegetal substances, are all found braided in various 
lengths and thicknesses. The commonest and apparently the most 
useful type is a narrow three-strand flat braid of shredded yucca 
leaves (not prepared fiber); this makes a stout cord that was em- 
ployed, among other things, for rafter loops and for pot harness. 
Burden bands, one of yucca, one of rushes, both braided flat, are 
shown in plate 45, 1,2 (Ruins 1 and 2). 
11893, pl. xlix, 4. 
