HOLMES' SPINNING AND WEAVING. 23 



the Swedes, in Pensylvaiiia aud New Jersey, they made ropes of this apocynum, 

 which the Swedes bought, and employed them as bridk's, aud for nets. These ropes 

 were stronger, and kept longer iu water, than such as were made of common hemp. 

 The Swedes oommonly got fourteen yards of these ropes for one piece of bread. Many 

 of the Europeans still buy such ropes, because they last so well. The Indians likewise 

 make several other stuffs of their hemp. On my journey through the country of the 

 Iroqnese, I saw the women employed in manufacturing this hemp. They made use 

 neither of spinning wheels nor distaffs, but rolled the filaments upon their bare 

 thighs, and made thread and strings of them, which they dyed red, yellow, black, 

 etc., and afterwards worked them into stuff's, with a great deal of ingenuity. The 

 plant is perennial, which renders the annual planting of it altogether unnecessary. 

 Out of the root and stalk of this plant, when it is fresh, comes a white milky juice, 

 which is somewhat poisonous. Sometimes the fishing tackle of the Indians consists 

 entirely of this hemp The Europeans make no use of it, that I know of'.' 



Ill another place this author describes the weaviug of bark fibers : 



The Dircapalustris, or Mouse- wood, is a little shrub which grows on hills, towards 

 swamps and marshes, aud was now iu full blossom. The English iu Albany call it 

 Leather-wood, because its bark is as tough as leather. The Freuch iu Canada call 

 it Bois de Plomb, or Leaden- wood because the wood itself is as soft aud as tough as 

 lead. The bark of this shrub was made use of for ropes, baskets, etc., by the 

 Indians, whilst they lived among the Swedes. And it is really very fit for that pur- 

 pose, on account of its remarkable strength and toughness, which is equal to that of 

 the Lime-tree bark. The English and the Dutch in many parts of North America, 

 and the French in Canada, employ this bark in all cases where we make use of Lime- 

 tree bark in Europe. The tree itself is very tough, aud you cannot easily separate 

 its branches without the help of a knife: some people employ the twigs for rods.^ 



De la Potherie, wbo wrote at an earlier date than Kalui, says — 



The women spin on their knees, twisting the thread with the ]>alm of the hand; 

 they make this thread, which should rather be called twine (fisselle), into little 

 balls. 



Hariot, John Smith, and Adair bear witness to the primitive practice 

 of the art iu Virginia aud the Carolinas. Smith uses the following 

 words : 



Betwixt their hands and thighes, their women v,se to spin, the barkes of trees, 

 Deere sinewes, or a kinde of grasse they call Pemmenaw, of these they make a 

 thread very even and readily. This thread serveth for many vses. As about their 

 housing apparell, as also they make nets for fishing, for the quantitie as formally 

 braded as ours. They make also with it lines for angles.* 



The Oherokees aud other Indians with whom Adair came in contact 

 preserved in their purity many of the ancient practices. The following 

 extracts are, therefore, of much importance to the historian of the tex- 

 tile art iu America: 



Formerly, the Indians made very handsome carpets. They have a wild hemp that 

 grows about six feet high, in open, rich, level lands, and which usually riiJens In 

 July: it is plenty on our frontier settlements. When it is fit for use, they pull, 

 steep, peel, and beat it; and the old women spin it off the distaff's, with wooden 

 machines, having some clay on the middle of them, to hasten the motion. When the 



' Travels in North America, Peter Kalm. English translation, London, 1771, vol. u, pp. 131,132. 



nbid., pp- 148-149. 



^ Hi.st. de I'Am^rique, Sept., vol. ill, p. 34. 



■■Hist. Virginia. Richmond, 1819, pp. 132-133. 



