rom Virginia in the early settlement of Kentucky.
Floor rugs they consider troublesome. The weaving is carried on in the
homes throughout the mountains of that region known as "Appalachian
America"; it is really a survival of the old Colonial industry. The rugs
are woven of strips of new ticking, and are especially designed for
bath-rooms, children's nurseries, and porches. The coloring is done with
the vegetable dyes and native barks and roots. The color schemes are the
simple ones of a primitive people.

_Navajo Rugs._ The Navajo Indian Reservation covers about eleven
thousand square miles, about six hundred and fifty of which are in the
northwest corner of New Mexico, and the remainder in the northeast
portion of Arizona. The region is well adapted for the raising of sheep,
and every family possesses flocks, which are driven from place to place
for pasture. The Navajos, however, never go to any great distance for
this, but keep generally within a radius of fifty or sixty miles from
home. This tribe weaves a rug that is useful, unique, durable, and when
at its best, impervious to rain. Among the tribes, and in some Western
homes, they are used as blankets, but it has become a fashion in many of
the best houses in the Eastern States to use them entirely as rugs,
couch coverings, and _portieres_.

[Illustration: NAVAJO RUG

SIZE, 3.9 x 4.9

_The field of this Navajo Rug is in a natural shade of grayish white.
Six large diamond forms in black, with reddish edges and white centres,
rest on the field. The centres contain a tiny red line, and there are
smaller diamonds--seven in number--four having red centres and the
remainder black, and at one end are two small figures. The border is in
stripes of red, black, and an addition of white. The rug is a fine
sample of the American Indian weaving, and its simplicity places it in
striking and pleasing contrast to many of the modern productions of the
Navajos._]

It is believed that the Spaniards, when they arrived in that section of
North America inhabited by the Pueblo tribe of Indians, communicated to
them the industry of weaving these rugs, and that the Pueblos taught it
to the Navajos. Thus it appears that the weaving of the Navajo rug was a
result of the Moors' invasion of Europe. The sheep, which are raised by
thousands, were also introduced by the Spaniards. The wool is not washed
until after the shearing. In the last quarter of the nineteenth century
the Navajos beg