SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 
 
 UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 
 
 A PRIMITIVE FRAME FOR WEAVING 
 NARROW FABRICS. 
 
 OTIS TIIPTON MASON, 
 
 Curator, Division of Ethnology, U. S. National Museum. 
 
 From the Report of the U. S. National Museum for 1899, pages 485-510, 
 with nine plates. 
 
 WASHING-TON: 
 
 GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFTICE. 
 I90I. 
 
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 
 
 UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 
 
 A PRIMITIVE FRAME FOR WEAVING 
 NARROW FABRICS. 
 
 OTIS TUFTON MASON, 
 u 
 
 Ciirator, Division of Ethnology, U. S. National Museum. 
 
 From the Report of the U. S. National Mnseum for 1899, pages 485-SlO, 
 with nine plates. 
 
 WASHINGTON: 
 
 GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.. 
 I90I. 
 
0^:1 15 1904 
 D.ofO. 
 
^ 
 
 A PRIMITIVE FRAME FOR WEAVING NARROW 
 
 FABRICS. 
 
 OTIS TUFTO?^ MASON, 
 
 Curator, Division of Ethnology. 
 
 485 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2011 with funding from 
 The Library of Congress 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/primitiveframefoOOmaso 
 
A PRIMITIVE FRAME FOR WEAVING NARROW FABRICS. 
 
 By Otis Tufton Mason, 
 Curator, Dimsion of Ethnology. 
 
 "Tela jugo vincta est; stamen secernit arundo; 
 Inseritur medium radiis subtemen acutis; 
 Quod digiti expediunt, atque inter flamina duetum 
 Percusso feriunt infecti pectine dentes." 
 
 (Ovid— PaHos and Arachne, lines 55-68.) 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The textile art among savage and barbarous peoples, as well as in 
 the hands of country folk in civilization, consists in the joining of 
 flexible materials in filaments — straw, splints, threads, etc. The sim- 
 plest of these activities is twisting or twining. The making of sennit 
 or braid comes next. After that will follow basketry, matting, net- 
 ting, lace work, and even fabrics, all made, out and out, with the 
 fingers. 
 
 The second step in the textile art, as in all others, will be taken with 
 the aid of some kind of device which hastens or perfects the operation 
 of the hand. There will be knives to split the material, gauges to 
 replace the finger nail, spindles, bobbins, frames, and shuttles, of very 
 humble structure, forsooth, but all of them containing the working 
 principles of the most advanced apparatus having the same functions. 
 Omitting all other textile processes, attention will be directed here to 
 weaving proper, or the use of mechanical appliances to this end among 
 primitive peoples. 
 
 In any style of mechanical weaving, however simple or complex, 
 even in darning, the following operations are performed: First, rais- 
 ing and lowering alternately different sets of warp filaments to form 
 the "sheds;" second, throwing the shuttle, or performing some oper- 
 ation that amounts to the same thing; third, after inserting the weft 
 thread, driving it home and adjusting it by means of the batten, be it 
 the needle, the finger, the shuttle, or a separate device. 
 
 487 
 
488 
 
 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1899. 
 
 Ill the modern power loom the parts by which these operations are 
 performed are ver}' intricate and rapid in their composition and action; 
 but in the simplest form of apparatus, from which the power loom 
 was originally derived, a few sticks and strings and the cunning hand 
 of the operator take the place of machinery, and time is no object. A 
 careful examination of an}'^ power loom will demonstrate the oft- 
 repeated fact that most of the machinery, after all, is a substitute for 
 the human lingers. 
 
 Fig. 1. 
 
 CHIPPEWA HEDDLE FRAME, CARVED FROM A SINGLE PIECE OF WOOD. 
 Cat. No. 3618, U.S.N.M. Collected by Henry R. Schoolcraft. 
 
 DEFINITION OF HEDDLE FRAMES. 
 
 There are in the U. S. National Museum a collection of heddle 
 frames, and photographs of others from different parts of Europe and 
 America, each one of which was designed to form the "sheds" in 
 weaving belts and garters — that is, to raise or lower different sets of 
 warp filaments in the manner to be now described. A series of healds 
 are attached to or form parts of a heddle frame, which sometimes 
 hangs free on the warp threads, as in the frontispiece, and sometimes 
 is attached solidl}^ to a frame or box, or to the body of the operator. 
 (Compare tig. 16 with Plate 3.) In the former of these classes the 
 "sheds" are opened by the weaver, who lifts or lowers the heddle with 
 the hand. In the second class, the "sheds" are formed by raising or 
 lowering the inner ends of the warp itself, half of its filaments being 
 
A PRIMITIVE WEAVING FRAME. 489 
 
 entangled in the stirrups of the healds, the other half passing- up and 
 down between the healds. 
 
 A still simpler style of making- "sheds" may be seen in a Chinese 
 device employed in weaving- rush matting. A block of wood like a 
 piece of studding, as long as the matting is to be wide and 4 inches 
 square in section, has a series of triangular saw cuts through it. Each 
 cut has an upright opening on one side and terminates with a small 
 hole on the opposite side. The next saw cut alternates with the pre- 
 ceding, its long opening being on the side of the small perforation in 
 the other cut. In rocking the heddle block by means of two handles 
 on top, backward and forward, "sheds" are formed in the twine which 
 constitutes the warp of the matting. 
 
 The specimens to be herein described came to the Museum from the 
 Zufii and other pueblos of the Southwest; from the Masquakee or Sauks 
 of Iowa; from the Chippewa Indians; from Finland, German}^ and 
 Italy in Europe; and, finally, from the English settlements in the New 
 England States and New York, and the Dutch settlements in Lancaster 
 County, Pennsylvania. To complete the round this ingenious mechan- 
 ism, having traveled through many lands and some centuries, emerges 
 from the U. S. Patent Office as patent No. 334320 (Plate 4), and adapted 
 forms are used for illustrating technical instruction in the Teachers' 
 ColJege, New York. 
 
 HEDDLE FRAME OF THE ALGONQUIN TRIBES. 
 
 The first of these objects brought to the notice of the ethnologist, 
 belonging to the first class above described, in which the operator 
 raises and lowers the heddle frame, was a (Jhippewa specimen figured 
 in Schoolcraft, but no description of it is there given (fig. 1). 
 
 The Chippewa Indians (belonging to the Algonquin family) about 
 Lakes Michigan, Huron, and Superior were in an excellent area of 
 food supply, contiguous to Iroquoian and Siouan tribes, and were 
 also brought into close industrial relationship with the French 
 explorers and priests; later the English settlers became their teachers.^ 
 
 The very object described by Mr. Schoolcraft was in the possession 
 of the United States Government before the U. S. National Museum 
 was founded, and is here figured; but there is on the specimen and in 
 the catalogues no allusion to the distinguished ethnologist and none to 
 the function of the apparatus. It is carved from a single block of 
 beech wood one-eighth of an inch thick. The upper margin is rounded 
 and cut into patterns as with a jig saw, representing two animals, two 
 hearts, and a symmetrical pattern in the middle. The lower margin 
 is treated in the same way, only the designs are such as might be seen 
 on old-fashioned furniture. The working part of this apparatus is 
 
 ^ Information respecting the Condition and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the 
 United States, Philadelphia, 1852, II, pi. 77. 
 
490 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1899, 
 
 the rectangular space constituting the middle portion. There are 
 thirty-seven upright healds or ' ' heddle dents " and thirty-eight spaces. 
 The healds are not inserted into the wooden frame, but are a part of 
 it, and are about the twenty-fourth of an inch in thickness, the mate- 
 rial having been cut away on both sides so as to leave these as thin as 
 safety would allow. Each heald or upright piece is wider in the cen- 
 ter than at the ends and is there perforated with a small hole. The 
 whole frame is just 7i inches wide and the healds about 3 inches in 
 length. The points to be especially noticed in this example are, first, 
 that the apparatus is made from a single piece of wood; second, that 
 the Indians of the upper Great Lakes were taught by the early set- 
 tlers from Europe to be weavers; and third, that the method of orna- 
 mentation, shown at the top and bottom of this specimen, is common 
 enough in Germany (figs. 8 and 9), but it is not common elsewhere 
 among American aborigines on such heddle frames. The healds and 
 spaces, together seventy -five in number, make provision for seventy- 
 five warp thr'^ads in all. 
 
 Mr. W J McGee, of the Bureau of American Ethnology, calls atten- 
 tion to similar heddle frames in use among the Masquakee, or Sauks 
 and Foxes, an Algonquin tribe in Iowa, and presents to the U. S. 
 National Museum an excellent example of a weaving frame from that 
 tribe (fig. 2). 
 
 Mr. W. H. Jackson says that the Sacs, Sauks, Saukies, or Osaukees, 
 as it has been variously written — a word meaning yellow clay — and the 
 Foxes, or Outagamies, or more properh^ the Musquakkink (red clay) 
 are now as one tribe. They were first discovered settled about Green 
 Bay, Wisconsin (after residence on the north shore of Lake Ontario), 
 but their possessions extended westward, so that the larger part was 
 beyond the Mississippi. They partly subdued and admitted into their 
 alliance the Iowa, a Dakota tribe. By 1804 they had ceded all their 
 lands east of the Mississippi and settled on the Des Moines River, 
 moving subsequently to the Osage (in Kansas) and, after 1842 [in 1845], 
 the most of these finally to the Indian Territory. In 1822 the united 
 bands numbered 8,000, but are now [1875] reduced to a little more 
 than 1,000, of whom 341 are still in Iowa, 430 in the Indian Territory, 
 98 in Nebraska, and about 200 in Kansas. The Sauks and Foxes of 
 the Mississippi in the Indian Territory have a reservation of 483,840 
 acres. ^ 
 
 The frame is made of walnut and is in its general structure similar 
 to the foregoing, but is much heavier and more elaborateh" finished. 
 It has fort3-two healds, making provision for eighth-three warp 
 threads in all. The ornamentation, at the top especially, has been evi- 
 dently under the influence of whites in quite recent times. In this 
 
 ^ Report U. S. National Museum, 1885, p. 37. 
 
A PRIMITIVE WEAVING FRAME. 
 
 491 
 
 specimen, as it is set up, the healds are not all used, only a sufficient 
 number to enable the weaver to form a texture having fifty-five warp 
 threads. Especial interest attaches to this piece of work, which is an 
 example of transparent weaving and beadwork. The warp consists of 
 fifty-five white threads. The shuttle is a steel needle threaded with 
 fine cotton on which beads of different colors are strung. The figures 
 are produced by counting off 
 the beads and arranging them 
 so that one will fall in each 
 of the interstices of the weav- 
 ing. 
 
 Accompanying this frame 
 (fig. 3) is a shuttle for mat 
 weaving, having an eye near 
 the center of its body. In 
 forming the beadwork a steel 
 needle was employed; but in 
 ordinary garter weaving on 
 the same loom the shuttle was 
 employed both for placing 
 the weft and beating it home. 
 
 The general method of op- 
 eration in both heddles just 
 described and in all others 
 of this type was as follows : 
 Warp threads of the healds 
 and spaces, or a smaller num- 
 ber, were cut into the length 
 of the intended garter,or belt, 
 or band to be woven . If they 
 were all of the same color one 
 filament was drawn through 
 the stirrup in each heald and 
 one passed between each pair 
 
 of healds. If there were to be various colors in the warp, filaments 
 of different shades were passed through the stirrups and between the 
 healds according to the taste of the weaver. At one end, which will 
 be called the outer or farther end, the filaments were gathered together 
 into a knot and made fast to some fixed object answering to the yarn 
 beam of a loom. The other end, which will be called the inner or 
 proximal end, answering to the cloth beam of a loom, contained that 
 portion of the fabric which, when finished, was rolled on a stick that 
 lay against the breast of the weaver and was secured by a strap pass- 
 ing around the body and buttoned to the ends of the cloth beam. 
 Sometimes the inner ends of the warp were merely held in the left 
 
 Pigs. 2 and 3. 
 
 MASQUAKIE HEDDLE FRAME AND SHUTTLE. 
 Cat. Nos. 20.5262 and 176680, U.S.N.M. Collected by W J McGee. 
 
492 REPOET OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1899. 
 
 hand of the weaver. In anj- case, they were secured to some movable 
 object which allowed the weaver to increase or decrease the tension 
 at will. 
 
 THE PUEBLO HEDDLE. 
 
 There is among- the Zuni Indians a st3de of setting up the warp of a 
 belt or garter for heddles of this class, which relates the frame to the 
 Indian blanket loom. The warp is one continuous yarn wound round 
 and round two cylinders, one resting against the soles of the weaver's 
 feet, the other attached to her body by a strap which passes behind 
 her back, its ends buttoning over the ends of the inner cylinder. In 
 the use of this device the warp is loosened or tightened by moving the 
 feet or inclining the body, the most pliant, delicate, and responsive 
 tension device.^ (Plate 1.) 
 
 When the woman and her loom apparatus were set up for work, 
 she raised or lowered the heddle with one hand. The warp filaments 
 which passed through the stirrups in the healds, being fixed in their 
 places, were by this movement raised or lowered with the frame, but 
 the alternate threads which passed between the healds remained stead- 
 fast and straight. Whether the frame was raised or lowered, a ' ' shed " 
 was formed in the warp; the weaver then passed through this "shed" 
 a simple bobbin or shuttle, often a rod with the weft woven on it, 
 after the manner of a kite string, containing the weft or woof fila- 
 ments, usually of white thread and quite fine. When the weft had 
 been passed through this "shed" between the heddle frame and the 
 body of the weaver it was beaten home by means of the shuttle or 
 with a separate tool, as among the Zuni, or by the weaver's finger. 
 This completed one weft. 
 
 The alternate warp series were then brought to the top or depressed, 
 and a second "shed" formed. The shuttle was passed back through 
 this "shed" and the weft again beaten home. If a pattern was to be 
 wrought, the shuttle was not passed through the "shed" as described, 
 but worked, as in darning, through a certain number of the upper 
 warp threads each time before a new "shed" was made. 
 
 THE FINLAND HEDDLE. 
 
 In 1893, Consul-General John M. Crawford sent to the U. S. National 
 Museum, from Helsingfors, in Finland, two specimens of this type of 
 heddle, one of which resembles in general features those described, 
 while the other (fig. 4) is very suggestive of the type found in the 
 pueblos of southwestern United States, to be later studied (fig. 5). 
 
 ^ Washington Matthews, Navajo Weavers. Third Annual Report of Bureau of 
 Ethnology (1884), pp. 371-378. 
 
A PKIMITIVE WEAVING FKAME. 
 
 493 
 
 Each of these specimens is carved out of a single piece of wood, and 
 in each one the framework above and below is much thicker than the 
 healds. Fig. 4 has eighteen healds in all and seventeen long slits 
 between them. The specimen is 8 inches long and 5i wide. The 
 upright bars are whittled into a roundish shape, so as to present no 
 sharp corners to the work. The top of the framework is carved out 
 into the form of a ring used both in handling the apparatus and for 
 suspending it when out of use. In fig. 5 the upper and lower margins 
 are cylindrical in form, like the back of a' comb, the middle parts cor- 
 responding to the teeth. In outline 
 this example is nearly square, being 
 about 5i inches broad and high. 
 Accompanying this specimen of 
 Consul-General Crawford's was a 
 shuttle for carrying the weft. It is 
 a thin piece of wood, parallel-sided, 
 except a slight constriction at the 
 middle, with a wide notch at either 
 end for holding the weft filament; 
 the edges are sharpened for driving 
 home the lay. It also has a perfora- 
 tion through one end for the pur- 
 pose of suspension. 
 
 With these frames were a num- 
 ber of belts and garters woven in 
 such apparatus, which exhibit in 
 their patterns the manner of produc- 
 ing diaper effects on the surface. 
 In plain weaving, it will be recalled, 
 the shuttle is passed backward and 
 forward on the "shed" produced 
 by the vertical motion of the heddle, and as soon as the weft is passed 
 the shuttle becomes a batten for driving it home. But whenever the 
 weaver desires to produce other effects than plain weaving, it is neces- 
 sary to count off from the upper threads at each excursion of the 
 shuttle such numbers of warps as are necessary, and to use a batten 
 stick or her fingers in forming the secondary "shed" and in driving 
 home the weft. This custom also appears in other places, to be men- 
 tioned farther on. In each instance, the patterns on Plate 2 are in 
 pairs, showing the two sides of the fabric and the effects of the special 
 secondary treatment of the warp bj^ counting. There is thus to be 
 seen in these patterns a good example of primitive arithmetic (Plate 2). 
 Attention is especially called to the fact that along with this -type of 
 heddle in the Crawford collection there came a loom for weaving 
 
 Fig. 4. 
 
 HEDDLE FROM HELSINGFORS, FINLAND. 
 Cat. No. 1678,39, U.S.N.M. Collected by Consul- 
 General John M. Crawford. 
 
494 
 
 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1899. 
 
 coarse hemp cloth. This apparatus coincides precisely with the com- 
 mon hand loom seen over Europe and the United States. Just as in 
 New England and in New York the country folk were making- cloth 
 and tape with primitive apparatus only a generation back, so in Fin- 
 land the same practices j^et survive. Helsingfors lies at the northern 
 end of the Baltic Sea, and it is only a short journey thence to northern 
 Germany, where the little heddle frame will next be found. It doubt- 
 
 I I 
 
 !■■ I i.i,i',l| I ii| '■, r I ii i'..- • r' 
 
 Fig. 5. 
 
 HEDDLE FROM HELSINGFOKS, FINLAND, WITH SHUTTLE. 
 Cat. No. 167837, U.S.N.M. Collected by Consul-General John. M. Crawford. 
 
 less traveled northward, acquiring a new name at ever}^ landing, but 
 its structure and function have undergone little change. The patterns 
 at Helsingfors are more primitive. 
 
 GERMAN HEDDLE FRAMES. 
 
 The next example takes the student to the town of Saalf eld, Konigs- 
 berg, in east Prussia. It was presented to the U. S. National Museum 
 by Mrs. Elizabeth Lemke, who says that it is a common apparatus 
 among the people. There are twenty bars or healds in this example, 
 and nineteen slits between. The frame is 14:f inches long, and 8i 
 inches wide. The healds are 8f inches long, giving to the warp thread 
 a wider excursion up and down. This specimen is made from a thin 
 pine board finished in a planing mill, and is three-eighths of an inch 
 
A PRIMITIVE WEAVING FKAME. 
 
 495 
 
 thick, without ornaments. The upper part is rounded and has a pro- 
 jecting handle, as in old-fashioned school slates. 
 
 The shuttle is of hard wood and resembles the form of a netting 
 needle which has a deep, rectangular notch at one end and a slitted 
 point at the other end opening into an eye, in the middle of which 
 stands a pointed spindle. This specimen, like all those before men- 
 tioned, hangs free on the warp, and the "sheds" are made by moving 
 the heddle up and down while the warp is stationary- at both ends 
 (fig. 6). 
 
 Example No. 176321, in the U. S. National Museum, is also from 
 Saalfeld. It is made of a thin piece of plain board, and there are six- 
 teen healds and fifteen slits or spaces between the healds. The appa- 
 ratus is 19i inches long, 8 inches wide, and nearly one-half an inch 
 thick, rounded at the upper end, and cut 
 out to form a hand hold or grip. The 
 saw cuts are roughly made, and the holes 
 have been burned through with hot wire. 
 
 The shuttle is a small seine needle, not 
 slitted at the point, but having a project- 
 ing- spindle in the eye at the pointed end 
 and a deep notch in the other, as in the 
 common seine needle. In this example 
 the shuttle contains white weft thread 
 or twine; the warp filaments are alter- 
 nating brown, blue, white, and red 
 threads. The shuttle serves also for 
 a batten to beat the weft in place. 
 
 Accompanjdng this apparatus is a 
 device used in winding^ off the warp 
 and giving to its filaments the correct 
 length (fig. 7). It is a piece of hard 
 wood, heart-shaped, with a pointed base 
 to fit in a socket and a pointed spool 
 above to hold the yarn. 
 
 In the Museum of the Society for Pomeranian History and Antiqui- 
 ties, in Stettin, are three heddles or weaving boards of the type now 
 being considered. Each was collected in Further Pornerania, where the 
 apparatus is called the "deska," as it is also known in Cassubisch dia- 
 lect. It is in use up to the present day, but among the surrounding 
 German population throughout the whole of Pomerania, so far as infor- 
 mation goes, it is unknown. The oldest one (fig. 8) measures 4 inches 
 in width and 7 inches in length, is carved out of a single piece of wood, 
 and has nine long openings between the healds which, through many 
 years of use, have become worn away. These openings or slits are 3 
 inches long and 0.3 inch broad. There are ten perforations for warp 
 
 Fig. 6. 
 
 HEDDLE AND SHUTTLE, FROM SAALFELD, 
 EAST PRUSSIA. 
 
 Cat. No. 175642 a. U.S.N.M. Colleitted by 
 Elizabeth Lemke. 
 
 J 
 
496 
 
 EEPOKT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1899. 
 
 threads, the outer two being through the sides of the frame itself. 
 The upper margin of the board is cut out in figures or patterns quite 
 
 similai" to those on the Schoolcraft specimen. 
 In addition to these openings, the surface is 
 covered with carvings. 
 
 The second example (fig. 9) is rather rudely 
 made of board. It is 6 inches broad and 8 
 inches long. Counting the sides of the appa- 
 ratus, there are fourteen healds, perforated 
 in the middle, through which warp threads 
 pass, and thirteen slits or openings between 
 these, all 4i inches long and 0.2 inch broad. 
 The upper part of the board has three heart- 
 shaped perforations, a serrated border, and a 
 loop, used for moving the heddle up and down 
 or for hanging it up when not in use. 
 
 A third example, having no ornamentation, 
 is 5i inches long and 8 inches broad. It has 
 eighteen openings, 4 inches long.^ 
 
 The lack of definite information concerning 
 the precise origin of the Schoolcraft specimen 
 (fig. 1) and that of the Sauk or Masquakie 
 Indians of central Iowa, collected by Mr. 
 W J McGee, makes it difiicult to inquire 
 into the German origin of the Algonquin 
 specimens. It must be noted, however, that 
 the ornamental carvings at the top are alike 
 in the two t3^pes. Furthermore, it must not 
 be assumed that the specimens in the U. S. 
 National Museum exhaust the geographic dis- 
 tribution of this type of apparatus. Quite 
 tne contrary. It would be surprising to find 
 that it had no use in England and France in 
 the Colonial period. 
 
 Fig. 7. 
 
 ITALIAN HEDDLE FRAMES. 
 
 HEDDLE AND SHUTTLE, SET UP FOR 
 WEAVING, ALSO WARP HOLDER. 
 
 Saalfeld, East Prussia. 
 
 Cat. No. 17B821, U.S.N.M. Collected 
 
 by Elizabeth Lemke. 
 
 In the U. S. National Museum is a heddle 
 frame from the town of Siena, south of Tus- 
 cany, Italy, collected by Dr. G. Brown Goode. 
 Unfortunately, material is lacking in all the 
 area between east Prussia and Tuscany. 
 Furthermore, it will be seen that the inventor has been at work more 
 than once to transform the Cassubisch into the Tuscan specimen 
 
 ^Upon the Cassubic population of Farther Pomerania see Baltische Studien, by Dr. 
 C, A. Hass, pp. 33-368, and Blatter fiir Volkskunde, IV, pp. 51-81. 
 
A PRIMITIVE WEAVING FRAME. 
 
 497 
 
 (fig. 10). Itcon.siyts of eleven strips or healdsof walnut wood 5^ inches 
 long', one-fourth inch wide, and one-twelfth inch thick, each perfo- 
 rated in the middle for a warp filament. These slats are set into 
 grooves in a rectangular frame 6i inches long and 6j% inches wide; 
 the frame itself is three-fourths inch Avide and five-sixteenths inch 
 thick. It accommodates twenty-three warp filaments and belongs to 
 the second class of heddles before mentioned, in which the heddle 
 
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 '//-^ 
 
 /«, 
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 ■I 
 
 'V/;'//''/'////////'l///^ 
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 WMMl^i'L'ml^. 
 
 \ ^11 11 '\ 
 
 ''""ill 
 
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 'lIlli'l'^M 
 
 Figs. 8 and 9. 
 
 * HEDDLES FROM STETTIN, NORTH GERMANY. 
 
 In Museum of the Society for Pomeranian Antiquities. 
 
 is stationary and the weaver raises and lowers the inner end of the 
 warp. This specimen is set up, with considerable mechanical accom- 
 paniment, on one end of a box that is 7|- inches long and 5i inches 
 wide. On the other end is an upright frame in which works a 
 revolving yarn beam, a feature copied from the ordinary hand loom. 
 
 There is also in the U. S. National Museum a facsimile of this 
 example, from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the center of the Teutonic 
 NAT MUS 99 32 
 
498 EEPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1899. 
 
 population called the Peuu.s^^lvania Dutch. The framework, or hed- 
 dle frame, has thirtj'^-one healds or upright bars, perforated, and 
 thirtj^-two slits, in all accommodating sixty-three warp threads of 
 various colors. The ordinar}^ yarn beam is replaced in this example 
 by a reel, on which the warp is distributed. This reel is held fast by 
 a stick pushed through between the spokes of the reel and resting 
 against the upright posts which support the shaft. B}^ removing the 
 stick additional warp may be unwound (hg. 11). Still more rude is 
 another example in the U. S. National Museum, probably from Penn- 
 sylvania, consisting of a heddle frame cut out of a thin piece of board 
 one-eighth inch thick. Provision is made for twenty warp threads, 
 by means of ten healds and ten slits. On one margin of the frame 
 the outer portion is perforated and on the other side it is not. This 
 upright is nailed in the end of a ver}^ rude box, having a bottom and 
 two sides but no ends. The box is 2 feet long. At the rear portion, 
 on either side, a post is fastened, and in this a reel, on which the 
 yarn is wound. The structure is similar to that of the Italian speci- 
 men and to others from Pennsylvania, but this is the rudest example 
 of the kind in the Museum. 
 
 NEW ENGLAND HEDDLE FRAMES. 
 
 The writer is greatly indebted to Mrs. Alice Morse Earle, author of 
 the charming work on Life in Colonial Days, for a photograph of a 
 loom belonging to this stationar}?- type for making silk braid, from 
 Long Island, set up and in operation. The furniture of the room and 
 the costume of the weaver are all in harmony with the instrument 
 itself, and reproduce, as nearly as possible, the time in which these 
 heddle frames were in common use throughout New England and the 
 Eastern States. There is room for thirty -three warp threads, though 
 it is possible to weave with a smaller number. Mrs. Earle, after 
 speaking of the large, home-made looms seen in all thrifty New 
 England houses, makes the following observation on the heddle frames: 
 
 Smaller looms, called tape looms, braid looms, belt looms, garter looms, or ' ' gallus 
 frames," were seen in many American homes, and useful they were in days when 
 linen, cotton, woollen, or silk tapes, bobbins, and webbings or ribbons were not 
 common and cheap, as to-day. Narrow bands, such as tapes, none-so-pretty' s, rib- 
 bons, caddises, ferretings, inkles, were woven on these looms for use for garters, 
 points, glove ties, hair laces, shoe strings, belts, hatbands, stay laces, breeches sus- 
 penders, etc.^ 
 
 In 1894 the author visited the town museum in Bristol, Connec- 
 ticut, and saw two specimens of the second type of heddle apparatus, 
 one of which was given to the U. S. National Museum, and is here 
 figured (tig. 12), It will be recalled that in this type the heddle is 
 fixed and the weaver moves the inner or cloth end of the warp up and 
 
 1 Alice Morse Earle, Home Life in Colonial Days. New York, 1898, p. 225. 
 
A PRIMITIVE WEAVING FRAME. 
 
 499 
 
 Figs. 10 and 11. 
 
 HEDDLES FROM SIENA, ITALY, AND LANCASTER, PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 Set up in a box, with yarn beam and other loom attachments. 
 Cat. Nos. 101811 and 17.5639, U.S.N.M. Collected by G. Brown Goode. 
 
500 
 
 REPOET OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1899. 
 
 down to form the shed.s. A note with reference to these specimens 
 was inserted the next da}^ in the Hartford Courant, and as a result 
 replies were received from various quarters, calling attention not only 
 to the existence of other examples, but mentioning the names of women 
 who in their earl}-^ days had practiced weaving tape, fanciful hat- 
 bands, garters, and other narrow ornamental fabrics on them. It 
 became evident that a device which at first seemed 
 to have been invented hy American Indians was 
 not known to them prior to Columbus, but had 
 crept into savage hands from the folk craft of 
 earlv white settlers. 
 
 Specimen No. 169078, in the U. S. National 
 Museum, is a heddle frame presented b}^ RosAvell 
 Atkins, of Bristol, Connecticut, of the seventh 
 generation of this family in the United States. 
 It is made of a piece of pine board three-fourths 
 of an inch thick. The upper end is sawed into 
 fourteen healds, and each of them is pierced for 
 a warp thread, making room for twenty-seven 
 warp threads. At the top, the healds are held in 
 place b3^ two battens which clamp the upper ends. 
 The bottom is chamfered to be held between the 
 knees by a person sitting in a chair (fig. 13). 
 This is a very primitive specimen of this class of 
 heddles, and serves to illustrate their popularity 
 in folk industr}^ There is nothing about this 
 piece that is above the skill of the untutored 
 farm boy with a common saw and awl and ham- 
 mer; the lower portion is not even rounded out 
 to lit the limbs of the operator as seen in other 
 figures. 
 
 Specimen 175641 in the U. S. National Museum 
 is a heddle frame from Bristol, Connecticut, 
 made from a thin board of maple wood. The 
 upper portion consists of twenty -two healds 8f 
 inches long, sawed out from the top as in fig. 1-1 
 (fig. 13). These, together with twent3^-one spaces, 
 provide for forty-three warp filaments, and this 
 portion of the apparatus is 9 inches wide. The tops of the healds tit 
 in a groove of a rectangular block of oak which furnishes a framework 
 to the upper border. On opposite sides, at the bottom of the healds, 
 are riveted semicylindrical strips of the same material, strengthening 
 the apparatus at that point. The continuation downward of this upper 
 or working part forms a base 17 inches long, cut out in a pattern 
 resembling a vase or lamp stand. This stand is inserted iu a groove 
 
 Fig. 12. 
 
 HEDDLE FEA5IE FROM BRIS- 
 TOL, CONNECTICUT. 
 
 Cat. No. 169078, U.S.N.3I. Pre- 
 sented to the National Muse- 
 um by Roswell Atkins. 
 
A PEIMITIVE WEAVING FRAME. 501 
 
 at the end of a piece of oak wood -and held fast by wooden pegs. 
 Finall}^, the oak piece is firml}^ set in and mortised into a heavy block 
 of wood which acts as a foot to the apparatus. 
 
 This specimen belongs to the class of stationaiy heddle frames as in 
 the example from Siena, Ital}^, and from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. 
 The specimens from Maine and Connecticut, held between the knees 
 of the operator, really belong to the same type. 
 
 Mrs. F. R. Post, of Hebron, Connecticut, has one of these heddle 
 frames cut out of a single piece of wood, on which her grandmother 
 when 3'^oung used to weave garters, etc., for her mother and her sisters, 
 and her mother has also used it. 
 
 The warp was laid off in proper lengths by being wound around 
 chairs, run through the holes in the healds and between slats; the outer 
 ends were tied together and fastened to some object and the inner ends 
 were held in the hand of the weaver. The weaver held the heddle 
 between her knees by means of the projecting lower part or handle, 
 and taking the inner ends of the warp in one hand, she raised and 
 lowered it alternatel}'. The slats allowed the warp to spring the same 
 as the harness in a loom. The filling was put in with her other hand 
 bv means of a simple shuttle, and beat up with one finger. (Compare 
 fig. 14.) 
 
 Mrs. Louise G. Strong, of Colchester, Connecticut, also sent to the 
 U. S. National Museum models, in cardboard, of these primitive hand 
 looms, and with them two specimens of work done thereon. The first 
 specimen is tough white linen tape one-fourth of an inch wide, used 
 in old country houses for making loops on towels and other fabrics to 
 hang them up. The other example is in worsted; the warp is a series 
 of black, green, red, olive, and blue worsted thread; the woof is a salmon- 
 colored worsted thread, but it is invisible on the surface of the fabric, 
 the warp having been driven hard home, so as to give a twilled effect. 
 
 Mrs. Strong says that the loom on which these were woven was used 
 in her family eighty years ago for making substantial fabrics, but 
 more especially as a pastime for 3"oung women. 
 
 Mrs. O. D. Nott, of New York, writes that her grandmother, living 
 in the little village of Milton, Litchfield County, over sixty years ago, 
 used a loom to make tape for apron strings. It was a very simple 
 affair, operated as follows: One end of the warp threads was fastened 
 to some stable object to hold them firm; the other ends were held in 
 the left hand, and by raising and lowering them the "shed" was formed, 
 through which the filling or weft was inserted. In a cardboard model 
 given to the U. S. National Museum are five healds and six spaces. 
 The woof in this example is not even wound on a shuttle. The fabric 
 being ver}^ narrow, a small reel or bobbin was sufficient for the work, 
 the lay being beaten home with the forefinger. 
 
 Specimen 175610 in the U. S. National Museum is a heddle frame 
 
502 
 
 EEPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1899, 
 
 Fig. 13. 
 
 HEDDLE FRAME FROM BRISTOI., CONNECTICUT. 
 
 On solid ba.se connected by an ornamental leg. 
 
 Cat. No. IToMl, U.S.N.M. Collected by A. W. Williams and G. F. Kit^Iiards. 
 
A PEIMITIVE WEAVING FRAME. 
 
 503 
 
 from Auburn, Maine, collected by Mr. H. C. Merrill. It is formed 
 from a piece of white pine board one-half inch thick, and has eighteen 
 heddle dents. There is no crosspiece at the top, the working portion 
 being formed by seventeen saw cuts 10 inches long, dividing the upper 
 portion into parts like the teeth of a comb, each part one-half inch 
 wide. On both sides the angular edges of the upright parts have 
 been whittled away so as to facilitate the passing of the threads. The 
 holes for the warp threads have been rudel}^ perforated and their 
 outer extremities whittled. The 
 lower part of the apparatus, 8i 
 inches long, has concave sides to 
 facilitate holding it between the 
 knees of the operator (fig. 14). 
 
 It is quite possible that examples 
 might be found in northern New 
 England States. The form in which 
 the heddle made of a single piece of 
 board is prolonged to be held be- 
 tween the weaver's knees or to be 
 set in a block of wood on the floor 
 is peculiar to New England, so far 
 as the U. S. National Museum col- 
 lection testifies. 
 
 PATENTED HEDDLE FRAMES. 
 
 As the climax of this tj^pe of the 
 stationar}^ heddle frame, attention is 
 now called to the United States pat- 
 ent No. 334320, granted in 1886 to 
 Eugenia Wernicke, a subject of the 
 King of Prussia, residing at 7 Bes- 
 selsstrasse, Berlin. 
 
 In the Wernicke patent the hed- 
 dle frame, in the drawing, shows 
 twenty-seven healds made of wire 
 or cord, with stirrups in the middle. 
 The shuttle for holding the thread is a seine needle lenticular in cross 
 section, tapering at its extremities, and provided at each end with an 
 eye. Other attachments to this device form part of the patent, 
 namely, for holding the warp in good shape, so as to secure uniform- 
 ity of width in the textile; clamp for holding the apparatus to the 
 table, etc., all unimportant in this place, the principle of operation 
 being the same as in those previously described from Germany and 
 other parts of Europe. 
 
 Fig. 14. 
 
 HEDDLE FEOM MAINE, WITH HEALDS DISCON- 
 NECTED AT THE TOP. 
 
 At the bottom a footing is cut in to fit the knees 
 of the operator. 
 
 Cat. No. 175640, U.S.N.M. Collected by H. C. Merrill. 
 
504 EEPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1899. 
 
 The language of the claim is as follows (Plate 4) : 
 
 I claim as new: 
 
 (1) The combination, with a holder for one end of the warp threads, a clamping 
 device for securing said holder to a fixed suj^port, and a holder for the other end of 
 the warp thi-eads, of one or more bars adapted to be inserted in the warp, to serve 
 as a guide against which the weft is beat(!n up, a heddle frame constructed to be held 
 in and operated by hand, and a shuttle, also constructed to be operated by hand, 
 said devices constituting a hand-weaving apparatus, substantially as described. 
 
 (2) The combination, with a fixed support for one end of the warp threads and a 
 free support for the other end of said warp threads, of one or more bars adapted to 
 be inserted in the warp, to serve as a guide against which the weft is beaten up, a 
 heddle frame constructed to be held in and operated by the hand, substantially as 
 and for the purpose specified. 
 
 (3) The combination, with a fixed support for one end of the warp threads and a 
 free support for the other end of said threads, of one or more bars adapted to be 
 inserted into the warp and to serve as a guide against which the weft is beaten uj), 
 a heddle frame constructed to be held and operated by hand, and a shuttle of len- 
 ticular form in cross section, operated by hand to pass the weft thread through the 
 warp and for beating up the lay, substantially as described. 
 
 (4) The holder or clamping device for one end of the warp thread, consisting of 
 the clamping bars 1, 2, 3, the latter being provided with a screw clamp or clamping 
 bracket (B), and the screws (s), said parts being constructed for operation substan- 
 tially as and for the purpose specified. 
 
 (5) The heddle frame consisting of a rectangular frame (H), the upper crossbar 
 (h^) of which is provided with a groove in its under side, and the lower cross- 
 bar (h^) with an offset in combination with tiae rack bars (h), rectangular in 
 cross section, the healds (H^), the stirrups (e), the locking bar (L), and locking 
 latches (1) substantially as and for the purpose specified. 
 
 (6) The herein described shuttle (S), the body of which is of lenticular form in 
 cross section, having slitted points (s*), the slit of which terminates in an eye (s''^), 
 substantially as and for the purpose specified. 
 
 HEDDLE FRAMES FROM THE PUEBLO REGION. 
 
 This interesting region occupies the valley of the upper Rio Grande, 
 the Territories of New Mexico and Arizona, and also portions of 
 southern Utah, southern Colorado, southern California, and northern 
 Mexico. It was first invaded by Spaniards when Cabeza de Yaca 
 crossed it in 1536, and visited by Francisco Vasquez de Coronado in his 
 expedition to search for the Seven Cities of Cibola in 1540. After 
 this the region was occupied by Spanish settlers, sheep were intro- 
 duced, and weaving in machines began. Some of the rude mechanical 
 appliances of this class existed there doubtless before of Mexican 
 type, since in the ancient ruins and cave dwellings textile fabrics of 
 excellent quality are found. But no relic has, up to this time, been 
 exhumed which connects the heddle frame here described with any- 
 thing earlier than the Spanish occupation, nearlj^ 400 years ago. 
 
 The most interesting part of this study, however, is a large collec- 
 tion of heddle frames from the pueblo region of the United States for 
 Aveaving garters, belts, and other narrow ceremonial fabrics, some- 
 times in plain color, more commonly in stripes and diaper effects in 
 
A PEIMITIVE WEAVIJSra FRAME. 
 
 505 
 
 different colored warps, quite similar to those of the Finlanders 
 (Plate 5). A number of sections of reed or split mesquite sticks are 
 laid parallel, as in the batten of the ordinary loom. These are 
 fastened at their ends on two par- 
 allel sticks, which constitute the 
 framework, whose length depends 
 upon the number of warp threads 
 to be inserted in the garter or belt. 
 
 An interesting feature in the struc- 
 ture of many of these pueblo hed- 
 dles is the occurrence of the wooden 
 cross piece at the upper part, on the 
 opposite side from the cross piece 
 at the bottom. When one of these 
 heddles is held perpendicularly in 
 the hand, if the upper cross stick 
 is on the side next to the eye, the lower one will be on the outside 
 away from the eye (fig. 15). 
 
 The Algonquin Indians sit upon the ground at their work; so do 
 the pueblo tribes. Hence the free-swinging heddle is more convenient 
 for them. The same may be true of the east German types. Fig. 16 
 
 Fig. 15. 
 
 SKETCHES SHOWING METHOD OF ATTACHING THE 
 HEALDS TO THE CROSSBARS IN PUEBLO HEDDLES. 
 
 Fig. 16. 
 PUEBLO WOMAN SITTING ON THE GROUND AND WORKING HEDDLE IN WEAVING A BELT. 
 
 shows the attachment of the warp to the c^dindrical stick in front of 
 the weaver, which by courtesy may be called the primitive "cloth 
 beam." It is held in place by a strap around the back, buttoned on 
 the end of the roller, serving also as a roller for the finished work. 
 The method of administering the heddle and the batten is clearly 
 exhibited (tig. 16). 
 
506 
 
 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1899. 
 
 This pueblo series is of such importance that the tj^pical forms will 
 be more minutel}' described, and a table given of all the specimens so 
 as to bring out the characteristics which they have in common and 
 those which serve to differentiate them. 
 
 Specimen No. 176704 in the U. S. National Museum is a rude heddle 
 frame from Zuni, New Mexico, collected by Frank Hamilton Gushing 
 (fig. 17). The crossbars of twig are 6f inches long, and there are 
 sixteen healds, 4:i inches long, laid parallel, with their ends on the 
 same side of the crossbars; these are made of little sticks rudely 
 whittled out, notched at their ends and fastened to the crossbars by 
 
 means of a rawhide lashing. The 
 holes, or dents, or stirrups in the 
 healds are rudely gouged out and 
 punched through. The whole appa- 
 ratus is so clumsily put together 
 that it gives the impression of a 
 child's heddle for practicing. It is 
 inconceivable that good work could 
 be done with such a utensil, and yet 
 the Zuiii have no better. Only 
 thirty-one warp threads could be 
 used in this heddle. One can not 
 always be sure that the objects ob- 
 tained from modern Indian tribes 
 have seen actual service. As soon 
 as things are known to be desirable, 
 they are forthcoming. In the best 
 made Zuni heddles the crossbars are 
 on alternate sides. 
 
 Specimen No. 41666 in the U. S. 
 National Museum is a heddle frame 
 from Zuni, New Mexico, collected 
 by Maj. J. W. Powell. The cross- 
 bars, of wood, are 28 inches long. 
 There-are ninety-four healds of small reed, 5f inches long, and these 
 are attached to the crossbars by the usual lashing of rawhide thong, 
 supplemented b}^ wrappings of yellow yarn. The excursion of the 
 loose warp filaments is 4zi inches up and down. The holes or stirrups 
 through the healds have been bored with hot wire; indeed, in all of the 
 old specimens this seems to have been the method of piercing the 
 healds or of finishing off' the stirrups (fig. 18). 
 
 It is noteworthy that in the examples presented from the different 
 States of the Union, from Finland, Germany, and Italy, the heddle 
 frame, with its healds, is carved or sawed out of a single piece of wood, 
 or the healds are set in a groove which corresponds with the crossbar 
 
 Fig. 17. 
 
 RUDE ZUNI HEDDLE FRAME FOR NARROW 
 GARTER. 
 
 Cat. No. 176704. U.S.N.M. Collected by F. H. Cushlng. 
 
A PEIMITIVE WEAVING FRAME. 
 
 507 
 
 of the Zuiii loom, but in all the looms of the Southwest the healds are 
 lashed to crossbars. 
 
 Specimen No. 165534 is a small batten frame or reed from Guadalajara, 
 Mexico, collected b}^ P. L. Jouy. It consists of sixty-four "reeds" 
 made of bits of flat iron, somewhat like those of 
 a small clock spring. These are set at the top 
 and Iwttom between two semicylindrical bits of 
 wood and held in place by half-hitches of twine, 
 which not onlj^ hold fast the reeds, but also 
 give uniform spacing for the warp. The col- 
 lector says that "it is used for separating the ^ 
 threads of the warp in weaving the ' rebozos ' or 
 ornamental head shawls," universal throughout 
 Latin America (fig. 19). 
 
 At the side of this frame upright pieces are 
 set in between the ends of the crosspiece and 
 held in place by lashing. There are no dents or 
 stirrups in this piece, so that it could not in any 
 way have been used as a heddle or harness, but 
 simply as a reed in beating home the weft. The 
 noticeable feature is the method of attaching 
 the upright iron portions to the crossbars, which 
 is very similar to that used by the Zuni in 
 attaching the healds to their heddle frames. 
 
 Example No. 166694 in the U. S. National 
 Museum is a heddle frame labeled Moki or 
 Tusayan, collected by Mr. James Mooney. The 
 frame sticks are 22f inches long. There are 
 eighty-two healds of reed and eighty-one spaces, 
 so that there is in all provision for one hundred 
 and sixty-three warp threads. The healds are 
 8f inches long, giving an excursion to the warp 
 threads of T inches; at their upper and lower 
 ends they are laid on difl'erent sides of the 
 crossbars, so that in looking at the apparatus 
 the crossbar will be on the side of the eye, and 
 the other will appear behind the ends of the 
 healds. 
 
 As before remarked, there are a great many 
 specimens made in this way, although there are others in which the 
 crossbars are both on the same side of the healds as in a gate. The 
 ends of the healds are attached to the crossbars by a peculiar kind 
 of lashing, in which the twine or filament crosses itself over the 
 healds and lies in somewhat parallel lines on the sides of the cross- 
 bars (Plate 6). 
 
 Fig. 18. 
 
 HEDDLE FROM ZDNI. 
 
 Showing the healds on alter- 
 nate sides of crossbars. 
 Cat. No. 41666. U.S.N.M. Col- 
 lected by J. W. Powell. 
 
508 
 
 EEPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1899. 
 
 PUEBLO HEDDLES OF VARIOUS SIZES. 
 
 Collection of heddles from pueblos, marked Zuiii in the catalogue, 
 but the location is not delinitel)^ known. The apparatus is more com- 
 mon at Moki. 
 
 Plate T, Hg. 1. Crossbars, rectangular strips of wood with notches 
 cut on the flat side to receive the ends of the healds. This char- 
 acteristic should be noted in this specimen, since it is ver}^ rare; 
 in most examples it will be seen that the healds are laid against the 
 
 Fig. 19. 
 
 BATTEN FROM GTTADALAJARA, MEXICO, ON THE PLAN OF THE PUEBLO HEDDLES. 
 Cat. No. 165534, U.S.N. M. ' . 
 
 frame. In this specimen there are sixteen healds made of bits of 
 split cane or splints of wood one-fourth of an inch wide and ver}" thin. 
 The ends are notched to fit into the notches cut into the crossbars and 
 are held in place b}^ a continuous winding or wrapping of sinew fila- 
 ment. The holes or stirrups, in the healds, are coarse and rudely 
 excavated. 
 
 The healds are 4 inches long between the crossbars; the whole 
 length of healds is 5 inches, and of crossbars l»i inches. 
 
 Cat. No. 127688, U.S.N.M. Collected bv Bureau of Ethnology. 
 
A PRIMITIVE WEAVING FRAME. 509 
 
 Plate 7. — Collection of Pueblo heddles, marked Zuiii, but they are quite as 
 likely to be Moki. U. S. N. M. 
 
 Fig. 2. — Crossbars of willow twigs; sixteen healds, 5J inches long, made of splints 
 of wood, rudely Avhittled and fastened to the crossbars by wrapping of rawhide and 
 rags. This is a very rude specimen. Length of crossbars, 7i inches. Zuhi, New 
 Mexico. Cat. No. 75732, U.S.N. M. Collected by James Stevenson. 
 
 Fig. 3. — Crossbars of twig; forty healds of cane splints, 5h inches long, notched at 
 either end to be fastened against the crossbars on alternate sides by rawhide string 
 and rags. It is specially noteworthy that the ends of the bars are not opposite to 
 each other. Zuni, New Mexico. Cat. No. 75731, U.S.N.M. Collected by James 
 Stevenson. 
 
 Fig. 4.- — Crossbars of splints of wood, rectangular in cross section and regularly 
 notched in on the broad side for securing the thirty-five healds which are made 
 of thin splints of wood, 6| inches long, and notched at the ends and fastened to 
 the crossbars by a lashing of leather. This specimen has the appearance of having 
 been much used. Moki pueblo. Cat. No. 127688, U.S.N.M. Collected by James 
 Stevenson. 
 
 Fig. 5. — Crossbars of sticks of wood rectangular in cross section; forty-four healds, 
 the shorter ones 6| inches long, are fastened to the crossbars by wrapping of leather 
 string. On either side of the middle are three groups of healds rising above the 
 upper crossbars by a series of steps. Moki pueblo, New Mexico. Cat. No. 127688 (a), 
 U.S.N.M. Collected by James Stevenson. 
 
 Plate 8. — Figures of two heddles from Moki Indians, New Mexico. Collected 
 by Mrs. Stevenson. 
 
 Fig. 1. — Crossbars of sticks, perforated for the fastening of the forty-eight healds, 
 of split cane, 6 inches long, which are attached to the crosspieces by means of a 
 leather string rove through the holes in the ends of the healds and through the 
 crossbars. Both ends of each heald are on the same side of the crossbars. 
 
 This specimen is unique in the manner of attachment, since most of the healds are 
 fastened to the crossbars by wrapping, but in this case they are sewed together by 
 means of leather thong. Moki Indians, New Mexico. Cat. No. 127688 (b), U.S.N.M. 
 Collected by James Stevenson. 
 
 Fig. 2.- -Crossbars, one of stick, the other a flat piece of wood resembling a bow. 
 There are eighty-nine healds, consisting of small reeds not split, 7i inches long, 
 neatly wrapped at their ends with fine thread attaching them to the crossbars. The 
 two ends of these healds, as in other best examples, are on different sides of the 
 crossbars. The great number of healds, their neat lashing, and the position of the 
 crossbars on different sides of the healds, mark this as a well-used and genuine 
 example. Two reeds are broken out, and their places have been filled by woollen 
 yarn with knotted stirrups in the middle to take the place of the holes in the healds. 
 Moki Indians. Cat. No. 166695, U.S.N.M. Collected by James Mooney. 
 
 It has been seen already, from the plates and descriptions, that 
 among the Zuni and other Pueblo Indians a special batten is used for 
 beating home the weft. In the simple tape-weaving devices in Con- 
 necticut the forefinger of the weaver is used as a, batten, the shuttle 
 serving merely to carry the warp thread back and forth through the 
 "sheds." In the Finland examples, in those of German}^, and perhaps 
 elsewhere, a wooden bobbin with open ends carries the warp filament, 
 while in other examples either one or both ends of the bobbin are 
 carved into the shape of the shuttle used in net making, and the edges 
 of this wooden bobbin in all cases are made in the form of a knife 
 
510 KEPOET OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1899. 
 
 blade, so as to be utilized also as a batten in pushing the weft thread 
 into place. Now, in the Pueblo examples the bobbin is a little stick 
 on which the weft thread is wound, very much as a bo}" winds his kite 
 string, into a spindle-shaped package, the ends of which pass easily 
 into and through the ''sheds.'' This bobbin is not used at all in beat- 
 ing the weft thread home, but a separate sword or batten is employed, 
 which performs several functions. First, it takes the place of fingers 
 in separating different series of warp threads when figure weaving is 
 in view. After running the batten underneath those warp threads 
 that are to appear in the figure it is revolved 90° on its axis and 
 in this way becomes a special harness for making "sheds." Second, 
 as a batten for beating home the weft. Third, as a help to the hed- 
 dle, which does not always separate the two series of warp threads. 
 The longer specimens are used for preciselj^ the same purposes by 
 blanket weavers in their looms, and in the U. S. National Museum 
 there is, in the Ainu collection, a weaving in bark in which a very 
 broad batten of this kind with a handle similar to some of those found 
 in the Pueblo region is exhibited. 
 
 The specimens shown in Plate 9 are of mesquite wood {Prosopis 
 juliflora) or of oak {Quercus gamhelii). The upper example is made 
 from a branch split and smoothed and shaped as little as possible. In 
 the others it will be seen that there is an increasing effort on the part 
 of the maker to secure a handle and a wider, thinner, and smoother 
 blade. 
 
 It is regrettable that the author has not been able to extend his 
 inquiries into France and Spain. H3q3otheticalh% the heddle frame 
 came from Europe or southwestern Asia. The Finns, the Germans, the 
 Sauks, and the Pueblo tribes have the free-swinging heddle frame. 
 The New England women, who sit in chairs at their work, the Penn- 
 sylvania Dutch, and the Italians used the stationary frame, making the 
 "sheds" hy raising and lowering the inner or cloth ends of the warp. 
 
 Those weavers that sat on the ground and employed the free-swing- 
 ing heddle could use a sword or paddle batten, serving to make the 
 "sheds," to separate certain warp filaments for figure working, and 
 for beating home the weft. Only rich patterns occur where the free- 
 swinging heddle frame is employed. Not enough is known of the 
 spread of this last apparatus in Europe to show the definite manner of 
 its introduction into Iowa and the Pueblo region. On weaving with 
 little boards in Bagdad and Mesopotamia, see C. F. Lehmann,^ 
 
 1 Verhandl. d. Berliners Gesellsch. f. Anthrop., etc., May 19, 1900, i>. 299. 
 
Report of U. S. National Museum, 1 899.— Mason. 
 
 Plate 1, 
 
Report of U. S. National Museum, 1899. — Mason. 
 
 Plate 2. 
 
 rM-:^:^^'.^^-l 
 
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 ^3^«iMffl,m' ■ " ' '-'/iii««i|ii«j* 
 
 
 
 Patterns of Garters and Eelts made in Heddle Frames in Helsingfors. 
 
Report of U, S. National Museum, 1899. — Mason. 
 
 Plate 3. 
 
 Loom with Heddle Frame for weaving Silk Braid. 
 
Report of U. S Natronal Museum. 1 B99 - Mason. 
 
 Plate 4. 
 
 (No Model.) 
 
 No. 334,320 
 
 2 Sheets— Sheet 1. 
 
 E. WERNICKE. 
 
 HAND WEAVING APPARATUS. 
 
 .Patented Jan. 12, 1886. 
 
 
 
 Patent Heddle Frame No. 334,320. 
 
Report of U. S. National Museum, 1899. — Mason. 
 
 Plate 5. 
 
 Belt and Garter Patterns from Pueblos. 
 
Report of U. S. National Museum, 1899. Mason. 
 
 Plate 6. 
 
 Construction of Pueblo Heddle Frame. 
 
Report of U. S. National Museum, 1899.— Mason. 
 
 Plate 7. 
 
 Types of Pueblo Heddle Frames. 
 
Report of U. S. National Museum, 1899. — Mason. 
 
 Plate 8. 
 
 Types of Pueblo Heddle Frames. 
 
Report of U. S. National Museum, 1 899— Mason. 
 
 Plate 9. 
 
 Pueblo Batten Knives for beating Home the Weft. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 019 953 768 4