FEWKES] 



OBJECTS FROM LITTLE COLORADO BITINS 



97 



recalling those exluuiicd from Sikyatki; there was also a cyliudrical 

 object of the same material from the Chevlon ruin, but the most 

 exceptional specimen was a disk-formed abject of kaolin ^vith a 

 depression in one side, resembling a small moi'tar. These various 

 forms into wliich the easily cut kaolin is worked would seem to have 

 served some important office, the nature of wliioli is iinknown to the 

 author. Kaolin at the present day is used foi- whitening cotton 

 blankets, sashes, and kilts, and for painting the bodies and limbs of 

 those who participate in sacred festivals. Possibly some of these 

 fragments are simply pigments. 



Cloth 



Considering the number of graves opened in the course of the exca- 

 vations, it is remarkable that so few specimens of cloth were found. 

 This may be ascribed, not to the poverty of the inhabitants of the 

 ancient villages in woven fabrics, but to the rapidity with which cloth 

 decays in the moist soil. One or two of the si^ecimens which were 

 found were preser\ed bj- the eopijer carbonate witli which they were 





Fig. I 





Matting from Chevlon (number 157912). About 5 by 2J inches. 



in contact, but the fragments were small and the manner of weaving 

 difficult to discover. From one of the specimens it aj)pears that the 

 hair of some animal was used, and there is no doubt from othei-s that 

 yucca liber was extensively employed. The impression of string was 

 observed on several sticks, but the string itself was too much decayed 

 for identification. 



Two fragments were discovered at Ilomolobi and one at Chaves 

 pass. 



Matting 



It appears that the bodies of the dead, especially at the Chevlon 

 ruin, were wrapped in matting, fragments of which were in many 

 instances well i^resei-ved. This matting was a loosely woven fabric, 

 made of vegetable fiber which the author is unable to identify, and 



22 eth— Oi 7 



