EOLMESJ 



TWINED STYLE OP WEAVING. 



35 



figure 9. Prof. F. W. Putuam aud other explorers of these caves have 

 obtained uuinerous textile articles of interest. 



CuAKiiEi) Kkmains op Fahrus krom Mot:Nus. 



That the well-preserved fabrics just illustrated represent fairly the 

 textile work of the mound builders is practically denaonstrated by the 

 evidence furnished by the mounds themselves. From hundreds of 

 sources come the same story; and it is not necessary here to enter into 

 any elaborate discussion of the subject or to multiply illustrations. I 

 present in plates vr and Vii specimens of mound fabrics which, since 

 tliey were burned with the dead, undoubtedly formed part of the cloth- 

 ing- of the living or were wrappings of articles deposited with the 

 bodies. These coarse cloths may be considered as fairly representing 

 the weaving of the mound-builders. There are among them some finer 

 examples of weaving than those obtained from the caves and shelters 

 of Tennessee and Kentucky, but there is nothing specifically difler- 

 eut in material or methods of combination, aud there is nothing what- 



Fig. 9,— Sanrlal or mocnasin frotn a Keutucky cave. 



ever to suggest a higher stage of culture than that of the historic 

 Indian. 



The fiber is quite fine and is more probably of hemp than of the 

 bark of trees. The strands are generally well twisted and even, the 

 twist being in most cases to the right, or as if twisted on the thigh 

 with a downward movement of the right-hand, the thread being held 

 in the left. As in the case of cave fabrics as well as the work of the 

 modern peoples of the region, the weaving is nearly all in the twined 

 style, of which there are two varieties; one in which each strand of 

 the web is in turn inclosed simply by the woof twisted in pairs, and 

 the other in which alternate pairs of the web strands are inclosed by 

 the twined pairs of the woof Cloths woven in the first method are 

 often (]uite close, as the woof threads are readily pressed or pounded 

 down on one another entirely hiding the web strands, giving a fabric of 

 much compactness and strength. The second variety is usually some- 



