Page:The American Indian.djvu/90

60 museum collections by a textile expert have shown that the fineness of weave exceeds that of any other known part of the world. As to forms of weave, we find the same techniques as in the Old World, even to the pile and gauze. Outside of America, the known weaves can mostly be traced to southern Asia; hence, it is peculiar that we should find two disconnected world centers of textiles and that each should develop the same techniques. As to the weaves and qualities of Mexico and Central America, we are far less certain, since nature has not preserved samples for us, but from historical statements we infer that they also were of a high order. In southwestern United States we have an environment analogous to that of Peru, but which has less perfectly preserved examples of cliff-house textiles. This, however, is the extreme margin of the area where, consequently, we cannot expect very high development. Our museums contain a few specimens, but they have not been studied by a textile expert. The surviving Pueblos of Arizona and New Mexico and the Navajo still weave, but to what extent they have been influenced by white contact we are not certain. For a long time they have used the wool of the domestic sheep almost exclusively, and though their work is highly prized by collectors, it is very coarse when compared with Peruvian types. Of the cotton cloth in the manioc area we have very little data. The early accounts of the southern half of the eastern maize area indicate a fair degree of textile development. While the information available is not specific, the statements of early observers lead us to suspect that tapestry and double cloth were known, and that while the typical suspended, or downward, weaving was used, some tribes used a true loom, the two-barred loom, and a loom with three cross rods for twilling buffalo-hair cord. Woven feather-work was common, and there is mention of painted cloth. Perhaps the most distinctive textile of this area was buffalo-hair weaving, this art extending far up into the Mississippi Valley. The Chilkat blanket of the North Pacific Coast is quite coarse in weave, though somewhat finer than the fabrics of the immediate interior. The remainder