denote: _Indian weaving_]

[Sidenote: _The colors used_]

[Sidenote: _Old Indian blankets are rare_]

[Sidenote: _Description of the illustration_]

Navajo blankets were first made by the Pueblo Indians, from whom the
Navajo Indians learned the art, and not long after the latter excelled
in the making of them. Among the Pueblo Indians the men do the work; but
women are the weavers among the Navajos. In the illustration on this
page is seen a miniature Navajo loom with the blanket commenced. The two
cords woven at the sides with the woof can be easily seen. Simple looms
are suspended between two posts or trees, and the weaver sits upon the
ground. A twig is used for a shuttle, and a reed, fork-shaped like a
hand, is used to push down the woof threads. The blanket is made
waterproof by pounding down the threads with a batten, a good picture of
which is seen in Dr. Washington Matthews' article on Navajo weavers in
the Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology. Separate balls of
color are used to carry out the pattern, which is sometimes traced in
the sand before the work is commenced. As many as twenty-nine different
balls have been seen hanging from a single blanket. Some of the designs
have been handed down from one generation to another, and are carried
entirely in the memory. They are often symbolical "and unfold a whole
legend to the knowing eye of the native." The weaving is done from the
bottom up, some working in one direction, while others weave first at
the bottom, then turn the loom upside down, and, after weaving about the
same distance there, finish in the middle. The last part of the weaving
is like darning, and is often done with a needle. The colors most used
are white, gray, black, a bright yellow, red (a scarlet, generally
obtained by raveling bayeta cloth), and sometimes blue. In former times,
when the Indians used vegetable dyes, the colors were beautiful and
lasting. These old blankets are becoming more and more rare, and to-day
in their places we have the bright and not always satisfactory results
of aniline dyes. The blanket in the illustration facing this page has
narrow stripes in the following colors: On each end (seven stripes) red,
black, white, orange, green, white, black. The two groups of six stripes
in the middle are: Black, white, red, green, white, black. Before the
advent of the present squaw dress, the black, red, and dark blue
blankets were used as clothing, but the best blanket