ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT. XLVII 



ries from caverns and rock shelters, in which textile material is 

 sometimes preserved through the influence of niter, copperas, 

 and other earthy salts, were utilized; and, as the material from 

 such localities was brought to light, it was compared with the 

 textiles recovered from the mounds. The comparison was then 

 extended to the fabrics produced by the historical Indians, spe- 

 cial attention being given to the fabrics found in use among 

 the Indians by the earliest explorers. The comparisons indi- 

 cated similarity in all essential respects. As stated by Mr 

 Holmes, "There are among them [the coarse cloths of the 

 mound-builders] some liner examples of weaving than those 

 obtained from the caves and shelters of Tennessee and Ken- 

 tucky, but there is nothing specifically different in material or 

 methods of combination, and there is nothing- wliatever to sug- 

 gest a higher stage of culture than that of the historical Indian" 

 (page 35). 



As the researches and comparisons were extended, the pot- 

 tery of the mounds and that found in use among the aborigines 

 came under examination. Skilled in the recognition of textiles, 

 Mr Holmes so<in found that such pottery frequently bears 

 impressions of woven fabrics, and he devised a method of tak- 

 ing casts from the fabric-impressed pottery by which the char- 

 acter of the fabric was shown nnich more clearly than in the 

 negative impression. A large number of fabrics frojn the 

 mounds were thus restored, and they were compared with 

 restorations from the pottery of the historical Indians and of 

 the primitive peoples of other countries, as well as with the 

 fabrics themselves. This comparison indicated that the fab- 

 rics impressed on the mound potteiy, like those found intact 

 in the mounds, are essentially similar to the fabrics produced 

 by the red men found roaming the plains and Avoodlands of 

 this country, and that "All tell the same story of a simple, 

 primitive culture, hardly advanced l^eyond the grade sepa- 

 rating the savage from the barbarous condition" (page 45). 



There are two modes of comparison, occupying different 

 planes: The first is the direct or analogic comparison in wdiich 

 the objects themselves are juxtaposed (in reality or ideally, 

 with the aid of memory and picture) and their external charac- 



