390 NAVAJO WEAVERS. 



blanket is wound ou (§ IVJ, but more commonly the loom is arranged in 

 the manner shown in Plate XXXVI; that is, the upper beam is secured to 

 a ratter, post, or tree, while to the lower beam is attached a loop of rope 

 that passes under the thighs of the weaver, and the warp is rendered 

 tense by her weight. Next, the upper shed is supplied with a shed- 

 ro I and the lower shed with a set of healds. Then the stick at/ (upper 

 stick in Plate XXXVI) is put in ; this is simply a round stick, about 

 which one loop of each thread of the warp is thrown. (Although the 

 warp may consist of only one thread I must now speak of each turn as 

 a separate thread.) Its use is to keep the different threads in place and 

 prevent them from crossing and straggling; for it must be remembered 

 that the warp in this case is not secured at two points between three 

 stranded cords as is the blanket warp. 



When this is all ready the insertion of the weft begins. The reed- 

 fork is rarely needed and the batten used is much shorter than that 

 employed in making blankets. Pig. 57 represents a section of a belt. 

 It will be seen that the center is ornamented with peculiar raised fig- 

 ures; these are made by inserting a slender stick into the warp, so as 

 to hold up certain of the threads while the weft is passed twice or 

 oftener underneath them. It is practically a variety of damask or two 

 ply weaving; the figures on the opposite side of the belt being differ- 

 ent. There is a limited variety of these figures. I think I have seen 

 about a dozen different kinds. The experienced weaver is so well ac- 

 quainted with the " count " or arrangements of the raised threadsappro- 

 priate to each pattern that she goes on inserting and withdrawing the 

 slender stick referred to without a moment's hesitation, making the 

 web at the rate of 10 or 12 inches an hour. When the web has 

 grown to the point at which she cannot weave it further without bring- 

 ing the unfilled warp nearer to her, she is not obliged to resort to the 

 clumsy method used with blankets. She merely seizes the anterior 

 layer of the warp and pulls it down towards her; for the warp is not 

 attached to the beams, but is movable on them; in other words, while 

 still ou the loom the belt is endless. When all the warp has been filled 

 except about one foot, the weaving is completed; for then the unfilled 

 warp is cut in the center and becomes the terminal fringes of the now 

 finished belt. 



The only marked difference that I have observed between the me- 

 chanical appliances of the Navajo weaver and those of her Pueblo 

 neighbor is to be seen in the belt loom. The Zufii woman lays out her 

 warp, not as a continuous thread around two beams, but as several dis 

 united threads. She attaches one end of these to a fixed object, usually 

 a rafter iu her dwelling, and the other to the belt she wears around her 

 body. She has a set of wooden healds by which she actuates the alter- 

 nate threads of the warp. Instead of using the slender stick of the 

 Navajos to elevate, the threads of the warp iu forming her figures, she 

 lifts these threads with her fingers. This is an easy matter with her 



