14 



PREHISTORIC TEXTILE ART. 



[ETH. ANN. 13 



Butel-Duuiout also, iu describing the dwellings of the Natchez 

 Indians of the lower Mississippi region, speaks of the door of an Indian 

 cabin "made of dried canes fastened and interlaced on two other 

 canes placed across." ' 



A singnlar nse of wattle work is mentioned by Lafitan. He states 

 that the young men, when going through the ordeal of initiation on 

 attaining their majority, were placed apart in — 



An inclosure very strougly I)uilt, made expressly for this purpose, one of whiih I 

 saw in 1694, which belonged to the Indians of Panmaiiukie. It was iu the form of 

 a sugar loaf and was open on all sides like a trellis to admit tlie air.- 



FlG. 1. — Fiah weir of the Virgiuia Indiau.-i (after Hariot). 



Of a somewhat similar nature was the construction of biers described 

 by Butel-Dumont. Speaking of the Mobilians, he says: 



When their chief is dead they proceed as follows : At 15 or 20 feet from his 

 cabin they erect a kind of platform raised about -li feet from the ground. This is 

 composed of four large forked poles of oak wood planted in the earth, with others 

 placed across; this is covered with canes bound and interlaced so as to resemble 

 greatly the bed used by the natives. ' 



According to John Lawson, similarly constructed "hurdles" were in 

 use among the Carolina Indians. 



The tide-water tribes of the Atlantic coast region made very frequent 

 use of fish weirs, which were essentially textile iu character. John 

 Smith mentions their use in Virginia, and Hariot gives a number of 

 plates in which the weirs are delineated. The cut here given (figure 1) 



'Memoires Historiques snr la Lmxisiani'. George Marie Rutel-Duaiont. Paris, 1753, vol. n, p. 104. 

 ^McBurs ties Sauvagea Ameriquaius, P6re Josepli Francois Lalitau. Paris, 1724, vol, I, p. 286. 

 30p.cit.,vol.I,p.241. 



