Fig. 70 (202-8391). Diagram of Stitch of Fragment of Rush Matting. From near the skin on skeleton in grave No. 38 (1) of an adult in a rock-slide on the east side of the escarpment near the head of Priest Rapids. ½ nat. size.
Matting. Fragments of matting of vegetable fibre sewed or twined with cords made of plant material were found; but only in recent graves. Such graves contained objects introduced into the region since the advent of the whites. These fabrics were probably modern but were in no way affected by the coming of the white man or the materials secured from him, being simply found in these modern graves associated with artifacts made from material secured from the white man. In the old graves they have probably long since decayed. Spindle-whorls were not found. [Fig. 70] illustrates the stitch of a piece of matting (202-8391) of a well known type consisting of a single strand warp of rushes pierced at intervals by the weft which is a two-strand string. It is similar to that commonly found in the Thompson River region.[245] This specimen was found in grave No. 38 (1) (99-4333) in a rock-slide on the west side of the Columbia River, near the head of Priest Rapids. The grave was probably modern as is suggested by stakes nearly six feet long which projected about three feet above the surface of the rock-slide and a roll of birch bark[246] (202-8392). The vegetable fibre used in sewing these stalks was probably the same as that used by the present Indians as was thought to be the case in the Thompson River region.[247] Spinden does not mention this simple type of sewed mat as found in the Nez Perce area.[248] [Fig. 71] shows a piece of matting (202-8229) of a new type consisting of two strands of what seem to be small stalks of tule, twisted loosely and pierced at each half turn by a cord. The cord is a two-strand string, the vegetable fibre of the individual strands not seeming to be twisted. The interstices are wide. It was found under the pelvis of a skeleton of a youth (99-4228) in a recent grave, No. 33 (4), in a rock-slide near the mouth of Cherry Creek, below Ellensburg. This piece of matting, so far as I am aware, is the first specimen of a new type collected and figured. It was first brought to the attention of students in 1906 through correspondence when Professor Otis T. Mason stated that he had never seen an example, a picture or a description of just that technique. It was shown at the annual exhibition of the New York Academy of Sciences, in December of the same year, but reference to the type was first published in November 1908 by Spinden.[249] In the Thompson River region this type has not been found. Mr. James Teit informs me that he asked all the old Thompson Indian women of the vicinity of Spences Bridge about this type of matting, submitting a model of it to them which I sent him. They all stated that they never saw that particular type made in the Thompson River region and if ever made there it must have been before the memory of those now living. The only pierced matting made there as far as they have ever known is the tule tent mat,[250] but the strands of this were not twisted, being like those shown in [Fig. 70]. They had a weave similar to this and the same in general effect in the common mat used for beds and on which to sit, known as the floor mat, but the strands were woven and not stitched.[251] Certain rush bags of the Quinault and the Makah resemble this type of matting but the rushes are not pierced.
Fig. 71 a (202-8229). Fragment of Matting, made of Twined Rush, stitched together with twisted cord. From under the pelvis of skeleton in grave No. 33 (4) in a rock-slide, near the mouth of Cherry Creek, below Ellensburg. b Diagram of Stitch of a. ½ nat. size.
Matting (202-8162) made of tule stalks stitched together with cords twisted to the right, but made of large stalks was found in a recent grave, No. 10 (5) in the rock-slide on the north side of the Naches River, half a mile above its mouth. Part of this was of a similar type and stitched with similar cords and part was of the more common form of sewed matting such as is shown in [Fig. 70]. This grave had been rifled, and the presence of bark, a portion of a fire drill (202-8157), part of a wooden bow (202-8159), two pieces of a finely woven basket (202-8160) and copper tubes apparently of rolled copper, suggest that it was modern.
Fig. 72 (202-8230). Fragment of Open-Twine Matting, made of Rush. From under the pelvis of skeleton in grave No. 33 (4) of a youth in a rock-slide near the mouth of Cherry Creek, below Ellensburg. ½ nat. size.
[Fig. 72] illustrates the technique of a piece of matting of open twine weaving made of rush which was found under the pelvis of the skeleton in grave No. 33 (4) of a youth in a rock-slide near the mouth of Cherry Creek, below Ellensburg. Spinden states that mats were made in the Nez Perce area, of cat-tail stalks held together by two twined cords and that mats were used for house and floor coverings and as sheets upon which to dry berries.[252]