The open character of the web in this specimen assists very much, in explaining the structure of tightly-woven examples such as that shown in Fig. 85, in which the cross cords are so closely placed that the broad bands of the opposing series are completely hidden.
I have made the drawing to show fillets of fiber appearing at the ends. These do not appear in the impression. It is highly probable, however, that these fillets are plaited bands, as in the preceding example. They are wide and flat, giving somewhat the effect of basket-work of splints or of rushes. This specimen was obtained in Carter County, Tennessee.
We have a few pieces of this variety of fabric which have been preserved by contact with the salts of copper. Professor Farquharson describes an example from a mound on the banks of the Mississippi River, near the city of Davenport. It had been wrapped about a copper implement resembling a celt, and was at the time of its recovery in a very perfect state of preservation. In describing this cloth Mr. Farquharson says that
"the warp is composed of four cords, that is, of two double and twisted cords, and the woof of one such doubled and twisted cord which passes between the two parts of the warp; the latter being twisted at each change, allowing the cords to be brought close together so as to cover the woof almost entirely."
| Fig. 86.—Fabric from a copper celt, Iowa. |
His illustration is somewhat erroneous, the artist not having had quite a clear understanding of the combination of threads. This cloth has a general resemblance to ordinary coffee-sacking. In Fig. 86 I give an illustration of this fabric derived from the opposite side of the celt.
Although I am not quite positive, it is my opinion, after having examined the specimen carefully, that the body of the cloth belongs to my first group and that the border only is of the second group. My section and drawing give a clear idea of the construction of this fabric. A finely-preserved bit of cloth belonging to the group under consideration was recently found fixed to the surface of a copper image from one of the Etowah mounds in Georgia.
| Fig. 87.—Modern work, Vancouver's Island. |
This form of weaving is very common among the productions of the modern tribes of Western America. A very good example is shown in Fig. 87, which represents the border of a cape like garment made by the Clyoquot Indians, of Vancouver's Island. It is woven, apparently, of the fiber of bark, both web and woof showing considerable diversity in the size of the cords. The border has been strengthened by sewing in a broad, thin fillet of rawhide.
The beautiful mats of the northwest coast peoples, from California to Ounalaska, are often woven in this manner, the materials being bast, grass, or rushes.