Fig. 6.—Analysis of the weaving of fringed skirt. Threads natural size.
waist to the knees; when they have no limbourg they use in the same way a deer skin.[54].
| [BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY] | THIRTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. IV |
FRINGED SKIRT.
When the girls reach the age of eight or nine years they are clothed from the waist to the ankles with a fringe of threads of mulberry bark, fastened to a band which is attached below the abdomen; there is also another band above the abdomen which meets the first at the back; between the two the body is covered in front by a network which is held there by the bands, and at the back there are merely two large cords, each having a tassel.[55]
Fig. 7.—Former costumes of woman and girl in Louisiana (after Du Pratz).
Of equal interest to the preceding is the badly frayed bag shown in plate V. It is 20 inches in length and 13 inches in depth. The style of weaving is the same as that of the two preceding examples; a peculiar open effect is produced by the rotting out of certain strands of dark color, which were arranged in pairs alternating with eight lighter threads. The construction of the border or rim of this bag is quite remarkable. As shown in figure 8, the upper ends of the vertical strands are gathered in slightly twisted groups of four and carried up free for about two inches, when they are brought together and plaited with remarkable neatness into a string border. As if to convey to the curious investigator of modern times a complete knowledge of their weavers' art, the friends of the dead deposited with the body not only the fabrics worn during life but a number of skeins of the fiber from which the fabrics were probably made. This fiber has been identified as that of the Cannabis sativa, or wild hemp. Two of the skeins are shown in plate V.