242 TEXTILE FABRICS. 



• 

 through the same process as hemp, its fibre resembling that of the latter, being equally 

 strong and durable. 



" Coioania mexicana. — This tree before the advent of Europeans was the great 

 source from which the Nevada and Utah Indians obtained the materials for their dress 

 goods. The outer bark is rough, but the inner is soft, silky, and pliable, and of a 

 brownish color. It is removed in long strips, varying in width, a desirable quality in 

 a bark that is used in the manufacture of clothing, sandals, and ropes. These articles 

 were formerly made by braiding strips of bark together, or woven with the hand-loom. 

 Females made skirts from strips of this bark by braiding a belt, to which they sus- 

 pended many strips of the same material, hanging down to the knees like a long fringe; 

 the rest of the person was naked in summer. Mats were also made from this bark, 

 which were used as beds." 



Turning our attention now to the textile fabrics found in the graves 

 at Dos Pueblos and La Patera, and on the islands, we find that they corre- 

 spond with the native work of the present tribes of Central and Southern 

 California, and, with the exception of the linen cloth found in the Swiss 

 Lakes, that there is a marked resemblance between the articles from the 

 graves in California and those from the lake habitations of Switzerland, 

 as can be seen by comparing specimens side by side in the Peabody 

 Museum. 



From the graves of California several examples of the ancient fabrics 

 have been preserved in consequence of their having been charred by 

 partial burning, probably at the time of their burial, while a few other 

 fragments have been found in the ashes of ancient fires on the shell- 

 heaps of Santa Catalina Island, or have been otherwise preserved under 

 exceptional conditions. Other specimens, again, have been preserved by 

 contact with iron and copper articles placed in the graves, which, of 

 course, show that such burials followed European contact, Not only have 

 unquestionable fabrics of native work been preserved by contact with 

 iron and copper, but also other fabrics, woven of linen and of wool, in 

 regard to some of which there can be no doubt that they were made after 

 European contact. The latter, however, may have been in part the work 

 of native weavers after the missions were established on the mainland by 

 the Jesuit fathers. 



One very interesting lot of articles (P.- M. 13189) taken from a grave, 

 at the isthmus on the island of Santa Catalina, by Mr. Schumacher, con- 



