28 PREHISTORIC TEXTILE ART. 1eth.ann.13 



Butel-Duinont describes feather work of the natives of Louisiana 

 briefly as follows : 



They [the women] also, without a spinning wheel or distaff, spin the liair or wool 

 of cattle of which they make garters and ril)ands; and with tlie thread which they 

 obtain from lime-tree bark, they make a species of mantle, which they cover with 

 the finest swan's feathers fastened one by one to the material. A long tusk indeed, 

 but they do not count this trouble and time when it concerns their satisfaction. ' 



Embkoidery. 



The use of beads, quills, and other articles to beautify the surfaces 

 of fabrics and skins was as common, no doubt, with the ancient as with 

 the modern native inhabitants of the Mississippi valley. In discoitrsing 

 on the dress of native women of Louisiana ButelDumont says that 

 the young girls wear — 



• * " a sort of network attached to the waist and terminating in a point, 

 * " * both sides of which are ornamented with ribbons of thread made from lime- 

 tree fiber, also made into network. From the waist to the knees hang several cords 

 of the same thread, to the ends of which are attached claws of birds of prey, such 

 as eaglets, crows, etc., so that when the girls walk these make a rattling noise 

 which is highly pleasing to them. This kind of ornament does not illy resemble 

 those nets which we use to cover our horses to protect them from flies. ^ 



From Du Pratz we have the following: 



The women make also designs in embroidery with the skin of the porcupine; they 

 remove for this purpose the skin of this animal, which is white and black ; they split 

 it very tine to use as embroidery thread, dye a part of the white skin a red coloi-, 

 another part yellow, and a third part is left white; they usually work on black skin, 

 and dye the black a reddish brown; but if they work on bark, the black [threads] 

 remain the same. Their designs are very similar to some of those found in Gothic 

 architecture ; they are composed of straight lines which form right angles at their 

 conjunction, which is commonly called the corner of a sijuare. They also work sim- 

 ilar designs on mantles and coverings which they make with the bark of the mul- 

 berry tree.' 



John Smith testifies to the same practices in Virginia as shown in the 

 following lines: 



For their a])parell, they are sometimes covered with the skinnes of wilde beasts, 

 which in Winter are dressed with the hayre, but in Sommer without. The better 

 sort vse large mantels of Deare skins, not much differing in fashion from the Irish 

 mantels. Some imbrodered with white beads, some with Copper, other painted after 

 their manner. • » • \Ve haue seene some vse mantels made of Turky feathers, 

 so prettily wrought ami woven with threads that nothing could be discerned but 

 the feathers. ^ 



FOSSIL FABRICS. 



Modes op Preservation. 



Contenting myself with the preceding references to the practice of 

 the arts of spinning and weaving in the various regions of the country, 



' Memoire sur la LoiiisLine. Paris. IT.'iS, vol. I, pp. 154-155. 



= Ibi<l., vol, I, pp. 138-139. 



3 Historie de la Louisiane, vol. n, pjt. 184^185. 



•■Hiat. Virgiuia. KicLmonii, 1819, vol. I, pp. 129-130. 



