CHERAN: a sierra TARASCAN village — BEALS 



45 



Figure 10. — Four-ply roije-twisting de- 

 vice used in making horsehair lead 

 ropes. Three men are needed to 

 operate the device. Four groups of 

 horsehair threads (spun on a simple 

 spinning device, not illustrated) are 

 fastened at h and at /, passing 

 through the holes in the piece of 

 wood e. c is a second perforated 

 piece of wood fastened to a Y-shaped 

 stump. Crank / is first blocked so 

 it will not revolve. The first opera- 

 tor rotates the piece of wood at a, 

 causing cranks 6 to revolve and twist 

 the four hanks of thread (d) , into 

 cords. Crank / is now released. 

 The first operator holds the board 

 (a) stationary, a second operator 

 rotates the crank (/), and a third 

 operator moves the board (e) toward 

 c as the rope is formed by twisting 

 the four cords {d) together, ff is a 

 heavy billet of wood, about 5 by 1 

 by 1 foot. As the cords and rope 

 are twisted, the increasing tension 

 drags g forward about 6 or 8 feet. 

 /( are short maguey fiber strings 

 attaching the cords id) to the 

 cranks (6). These strings are not 

 part of "the finished rope. 



