Page:The American Indian.djvu/83

Rh assumption that a historical connection exists between those two forms, and since basketry of cane is very widely distributed and the materials more readily prepared, we may suspect this to be the parent form.

In this connection birchbark vessels may be noted. They are an associate of the birchbark canoe from Nova Scotia to northern Russia. At no place in America, however, do they entirely displace woven or coil techniques.

Though closely analogous to splint basketry, matting does not always accompany it. Yet there are few peoples outside of the great hunting areas who do not use mats in some form. In the main we have two kinds: those woven of flat flexible materials, and those made by binding together long reeds or even twigs.

We can make one clear distinction between basketry and cloth, for the latter is formed by the weaving of spun or twisted materials. It is therefore made of string, or yarn. We have noted that some knowledge of thread-making is universal among mankind, but it is otherwise with the weaving of cloth. Such weaving in the New World may be comprehended under two designations: loom weaving and finger weaving, or upward weaving and downward weaving. In the loom, the weaver begins at the bottom and builds the fabric upward, driving the weft home with a downward stroke; in the other, the warp threads are hung loosely from a horizontal support and the fabric built from the top, the weft being pushed upward into place. In loom weaving, a sword or batten is used to beat down the weft and also as a shedding device, though an additional shedding device may be used. In downward weaving there are neither battens nor shedding devices, the fingers taking their place, though a bodkin or other pointed instrument may be used to force the weft into position.

Loom weaving begins with the Pueblo peoples and extends southward over the entire area of intense maize culture. Finger weaving is found in the salmon area, the Chilkat