ave no need of entering. I may state
here, however, that the materials used by savages in weaving their
simple fabrics consist generally of the fibre of bark, flax, hemp,
nettles, and grasses, which is spun into thread of various sizes; or of
splints of wood, twigs, roots, vines, porcupine quills, feathers, and a
variety of animal tissues, either plaited or used in an untwisted state.
The articles produced are mats, baskets, nets, bags, plain cloths, and
entire garments, such as capes, hats, belts, and sandals.

It has been noticed by a few authors that twisted or plaited cords,
as well as a considerable variety of woven fabrics, have been used
by primitive tribes in the manufacture and ornamentation of pottery.
Impressions of these made in the soft clay are frequently preserved on
very ancient ware, the original fabrics having long since crumbled to
dust. It is to these that I propose calling attention, their restoration
having been successfully accomplished in many hundreds of cases by
taking impressions in clay from the ancient pottery.

The perfect manner in which the fabric in all its details of plaiting,
netting, and weaving can be brought out is a matter of astonishment; the
cloth itself could hardly make all the particulars of its construction
more manifest.

The examples presented in the accompanying plate will be very
instructive, as the fragment of pottery is given on the left, with its
rather obscure intaglio impressions, and the clay cast on the right with
the cords of the fabric in high relief. The great body of illustrations
have been made in pen directly from the clay impressions, and, although
details are more distinctly shown than in the specimens themselves,
I believe that nothing is presented that cannot with ease be seen in the
originals. Alongside of these restorations I have placed illustrations
of fabrics from other primitive sources.

There appears to be a pretty general impression that baskets of the
ordinary rigid character have been extensively used by our ancient
peoples in the manufacture of pottery to build the vessel in or upon;
but my investigations tend to show that such is not the case, and
that nets or sacks of pliable materials have been almost exclusively
employed. These have been applied to the surface of the vessel,
sometimes covering the exterior entirely, and at others only the body
or a part of the body. The interior surface is sometimes partially
decorated in the same mann