312 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1888. 



of hackling it, which, with the beating it receives from a bone mallet 

 such as shown in Fig. 179m, separates it into fibres. These two 

 specimens are in the Emmons Collection. 



Fig. 1191. Fig. 179m. 



Bakk Sceapek. Bakk Beater. 



(Tlineit. Emmons Collection. ) (Tlingit. Emmons Collection. ) 



Other kinds of vegetable fibre, such as wild nettle and a species of 

 wild hemp, are beaten on the rocks, shredded, and spun with a rude dis- 

 taff and spindle into a strong twine or thread. Wood for canoes, 

 houses, columns, paddles, dishes, masks, helmets, spear-shafts, arrows, 

 floats, hooks, etc., is also gotten out during the summer season and 

 roughly' worked up in camp, the finishing being often left for winter ^ 

 leisure. At this time also the trading is done to obtain supplies of 

 cloth, horn, copper, shell, etc., for the accessories of costumes for ordi- 

 nary and ceremonial occasions. Fibre of cedar bark, hemp, and goat's 

 wool are spun into threads for use in weaving the blankets for which 

 certain tribes are famous. 



Ropes and cords. — The simplest cords or lines are those of kelp, some- 

 times single, sometimes laid up into two or more strands for additional 

 strength, as rope. The neatest ropes and cords, however, are made 

 from strands of spruce root or bark fibre, the small stuff being dexter- 

 ously twisted between the hand and thigh. The cordage for raising 

 large timbers and columns is regularly laid up and twisted like our 

 own ropes. A few of the most important uses to which the different 

 varieties of native cordage are put may be enumerated as follows: 

 Warp for blankets, fishing lines, canoe anchor lines, sheets for sails, 

 lashings for boxes, grommets for heads of chisels and wedges, head- 

 dresses, girdles, guys for erecting columns, and di| ~oing lines for turning 

 the smoke-hole .shutters of the houses. 



Mats. — These are made principally of bark audi 'e used for bedding, 

 for sails, and as covers for canoe cargoes. The coai, sr kinds are thrown 

 over the canoes to protect them from the weathe and as screens for 

 building temporary camps at night in traveling. Th use of mats, how- 

 ever, for sails and tents has given place to the substitute already men- 

 tioned — cotton sheeting. Amongst the Tlingit, on ceremonial occasions, 

 the chiefs were carried on mats borne by the slaves from the canoes to 

 the houses or in embarking in state. Matting from the different parts 

 of the northwest coast can be distinguished by the pattern and 

 texture. The method of weaving is that shown in Fig. 38e, Plate xii. 



