244 TEXTILE FABRICS. 



and about a tenth of an inch in diameter, and two pieces of bark rope, 

 about half an inch in diameter, composed of three large strands. One of 

 these pieces of rope, 4 inches long, is wound with a fine twine, which is 

 probably also made of the bark-fibre. 



A piece of cord, about 10 feet in length, was obtained in a charred 

 condition by Mr. Schumacher on the island of Santa Cruz. This (P. M. 

 9311) is made of three closely-twisted strands, apparently of bark-fibre, 

 though it may possibly be the fibre of a Yucca. 



The graves on Santa Cruz Island have yielded to Mr. Schumacher 

 several fragments of twisted and plaited fabrics made from the long, flat 

 and tough eel-grass (Zostera). A piece of rope of this character (P. M. 

 9309) is now about 6 inches long, and was made by bending a cord of 

 two thick strands upon itself, then by twisting all together a strong rope, 

 half an inch in diameter, was formed. The most interesting of the articles 

 made of eel-grass are several small pieces of coarse plaited work. In 

 these pieces the strands in one direction are of a simple twist, while those 

 in the opposite direction are divided, one half passing under and the other 

 half over the single strands. 



During the excavations at Dos Pueblos and La Patera, Dr. Yarrow's 

 party were fortunate in obtaining the remains of fabrics of several kinds, 

 which, although very brittle and much decayed, are represented of their 

 natural size in the photographic copy, Plate XIV. Of these, the piece 

 marked on the plate as Fig. 2 is of special interest, from the manner in 

 which it has been woven, for it seems to me that this example, so far as it 

 goes, is confirmatory of the statement made by Dr. Palmer, that the Indi- 

 ans of Southern- California possessed the hand-loom. The substance of 

 which the cloth is made is probably the fibre of a species of Yucca. A 

 loose mass of slightly-twisted fibres, apparently the same as those of which 

 the fragment of cloth is made, was also obtained by Dr. Yarrow, but from 

 another grave. What I consider as the warp in this specimen are the 

 fibres which run from right to left in the figure, while the woof is made 

 of two strands crossing the warp in such a manner that the strands alter- 

 nate in passing over and under it, and at the same time enclosing two alter- 

 nate strands of the latter, making a, letter x figure of the warp, united at 



