Page:The Pima Indians.pdf/154

] Fortunately, Doctor Palmer obtained in 1885 a complete loom with sample balls of cotton thread (fig. 74) from the Pimas. The warp is smoothly and evenly spun into a thread about 1 mm. in diameter. The woof threads are softer and are about 3 mm. in diameter; the ball (Museum no. 76012) is 61 cm. in circumference.

Sinew from the back and legs of deer was made into thread and was used in tying cradle bars, shield handles, arrows, kiâhâ frames, and even tattooing needles.

An unidentified species of grass, called â’kivĭk by the Pimas, is said to have been spun into thread in ancient times. According to the myth, it supplied the son of Corn Woman with material for his bowstring. When there is sufficient rain, this grass grows on the Mo’hatûk hills, north of Gila Crossing.

The art of weaving was not highly developed among the Pimas, yet the few simple fabrics of cotton which they produced sufficed to satisfy their needs for clothing and adornment. Unlike their neighbors, they have all but abandoned the art of weaving; at no time in their history have they advanced as far as the Pueblo tribes. Where they learned the art or if they developed it themselves we may not know. We can only hazard the guess that they had the ingenuity to imitate the fabrics which the Hohokam left behind or which the Pimas actually saw them using.

Early accounts of the Pima contain references to their fields of