178 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY  [punn. 65 
used thus it is usually roughly shredded out and of varying length. 
We have several specimens in which fine, round filaments were em- 
ployed for sewing, as in the case of a mended rent in a skin robe, 
in the stitchings of some leather bags, and in fastening the skin cover 
about a stuffed ball (see p. 192). 
A bunch of raw sinew (A-2187, Cave I) is made up of two 
bundles, each tied with yucca strips and the two tied together. The 
length of the pieces is about 16 inches, and they have the appearance 
of being the two tendons of Achilles taken from a deer or mountain 
sheep and carried home “ in the rough” for the preparation of thread. 
Woop 
PROCESSES 
These do not differ, so far as we have observed, from those noted 
in the cliff-dwelling section, which indeed comprise about all the 
methods available for a people ignorant of metals. As will be seen 
in the following descriptions of specimens, the finished articles are 
in no way inferior to those from the cliff-dwellings. 
ARCHITECTURAL WOOD 
Architectural wood was practically absent if our investigations 
give a fair sample of the dwellings of the Basket Makers (but see 
p- 206 in the general discussion of the culture). The only instances 
we recorded were the rough sticks worked into the roofs of covered 
cists in Caves I and II. 
SPEAR THROWER, OR ATLATL 
This interesting weapon is represented in our collection by one 
almost perfect specimen and three or four fragments. The atlatl is 
a device which serves to add greater length and therefore greater 
propulsive force to the arm of the thrower in launching a spear or 
dart. It consists of-a long, thin stick with a grip for the hand at 
one end, and a hook-like spur to hold the butt of the spear at the 
other. In throwing, the butt of the spear. was placed against the 
spur at the end of the atlatl and lay flat along it with the head 
projecting in front of the user’s hand (fig. 87); it was held in this 
position, probably near its middle,.by the second (fore) and third 
fingers which passed through loops on the sides of the grip (fig. 
88, b). The fourth and fifth fingers were clenched upon the atlatl 
shaft below the loops, holding it firmly against the palm and heel 
of the hand. The base of the thumb served to solidify this grip 
on the atlatl shaft, and the thumb proper aided to steady the spear 
