ILLUSTRATIONS.
| Page. | ||
| Plate [XXXIV.]— | Navajo woman spinning | 376 |
| [XXXV.]— | Weaving of diamond-shaped diagonals | 380 |
| [XXXVI.]— | Navajo woman weaving a belt | 384 |
| [XXXVII.]— | Zuñi women weaving a belt | 388 |
| [XXXVIII.]— | Bringing down the batten | 390 |
| Fig. [42.]— | Ordinary Navajo blanket loom | 378 |
| [43.]— | Diagram showing formation of warp | 379 |
| [44.]— | Weaving of saddle-girth | 382 |
| [45.]— | Diagram showing arrangement of threads of the warp in the healds and on the rod | 383 |
| [46.]— | Weaving of saddle-girth | 383 |
| [47.]— | Diagram showing arrangement of healds in diagonal weaving | 384 |
| [48.]— | Diagonal cloth | 384 |
| [49.]— | Navajo blanket of the finest quality | 385 |
| [50.]— | Navajo blankets | 386 |
| [51.]— | Navajo blanket | 386 |
| [52.]— | Navajo blanket | 387 |
| [53.]— | Navajo blanket | 387 |
| [54.]— | Part of Navajo blanket | 388 |
| [55.]— | Part of Navajo blanket | 388 |
| [56.]— | Diagram showing formation of warp of sash | 388 |
| [57.]— | Section of Navajo belt | 389 |
| [58.]— | Wooden heald of the Zuñis | 389 |
| [59.]— | Girl weaving (from an Aztec picture) | 391 |
NAVAJO WEAVERS.
By Dr. Washington Matthews.
§ I. The art of weaving, as it exists among the Navajo Indians of New Mexico and Arizona, possesses points of great interest to the student of ethnography. It is of aboriginal origin; and while European art has undoubtedly modified it, the extent and nature of the foreign influence is easily traced. It is by no means certain, still there are many reasons for supposing, that the Navajos learned their craft from the Pueblo Indians, and that, too, since the advent of the Spaniards; yet the pupils, if such they be, far excel their masters to-day in the beauty and quality of their work. It may be safely stated that with no native tribe in America, north of the Mexican boundary, has the art of weaving been carried to greater perfection than among the Navajos, while with none in the entire continent is it less Europeanized. As in language, habits, and opinions, so in arts, the Navajos have been less influenced than their sedentary neighbors of the pueblos by the civilization of the Old World.
The superiority of the Navajo to the Pueblo work results not only from a constant advance of the weaver's art among the former, but from a constant deterioration of it among the latter. The chief cause of this deterioration is that the Pueblos find it more remunerative to buy, at least the finer serapes, from the Navajos, and give their time to other pursuits, than to manufacture for themselves; they are nearer the white settlements and can get better prices for their produce; they give more attention to agriculture; they have within their country, mines of turquoise which the Navajos prize, and they have no trouble in procuring whisky, which some of the Navajos prize even more than gems. Consequently, while the wilder Indian has incentives to improve his art, the more advanced has many temptations to abandon it altogether. In some pueblos the skill of the loom has been almost forgotten. A growing fondness for European clothing has also had its influence, no doubt.