556 The Fabrication of Aino Cloth. [August, 
from the interior. The bark of the Akadamo is not macerated, 
but as soon as gathered, the outer bark is separated from the 
bast. The latter, in strips about three inches wide, is repeatedly 
doubled and thoroughly broken by the éee¢h at the point of fold- 
ing. By this means it is soon possible to separate the various 
layers of bast without any difficulty. The subsequent treatment 
is the same as of the Ohiyo bark. 
The instruments employed. in weaving are but seven in num- 
ber, and while they are of great simplicity, they seem quite 
efficient for the class of work demanded. They may be enumer- 
ated as follows: 
vu 
Aho/nishi. 
Yo/dosini. 
07. Ga’ masa. 
Qn pep 
‘ 
With the exception of the bera, which is usually maple, all the 
implen:ents are made of some soft wood, such as pine. The only 
instrument used for making and carving them, is a small sheath 
knife, having a slightly curved blade about six inches in length. 
Oftentimes the Aino will call into requisition all his skill in 
carving, to produce an elaborate set of instruments, while in the 
majority of cases they are left quite plain. The general forms 
and sizes will be understood from the accompanying figures. 
With the exception of Figs. 1, 3, 7, the instruments are perfectly 
plain. In the osha, Fig. 2, the bars are of such number as to 
admit the use of one hundred and sixty-five warp threads. The 
bera is used only for the purpose of tightening the threads. 
The ahonishi, or shuttle, usually holds enough thread to com- 
plete about three feet of cloth. 
To prepare the threads for the loom, several sticks, one foot 
long, are driven into the ground constituting the house floor, 
arranged as shown in Plate 11, from 1-7. The number and dis- 
tance apart, vary according to the length of the threads to be 
used, consequently of the cloth to be made, Two balls of 
thread, prepared as previously described, are then selected and 
unwound together, thus greatly facilitating the operation. The 
threads start at 1, turn 2 and pass around peg 1 again, thence to 
4-3, and so on, when after passing the last peg, 5, they return 
