ing of offerings or through accidental subjection to
heat. In some cases very considerable portions of the cloth are found,
but it is usually in a very fragile state and little has been preserved.

Specimens preserved in this way are obtained from a large area,
including the Ohio and a large portion of the Mississippi valleys.

FABRICS PRESERVED BY CONTACT WITH COPPER.

The preservation of woven textures through association in burials with
implements or other articles of copper is of common occurrence. Our
museums contain many examples of copper celts retaining on their
surfaces portions of cloth so well preserved that the fibers retain much
of their original strength as well as color. In plate VIII three
examples are shown from a mound near Davenport, Iowa, and a fourth from
a mound near Savannah, Georgia. The fabrics on _a_ and _b_ are of the
twined style and, although occurring 800 miles apart, are identical in
every respect. The cloth on _c_ is very closely woven and has the
appearance of simple interlacing. The finest piece of work that has come
to my notice is a bit of cloth from a mound in Pike county, Ohio. It has
from thirty-five to forty strands to the inch, and looks much like
coarse twilled goods. It is woven in the twined style, however, and is
therefore of native origin. It was preserved by contact with a large
number of copper beads, four of which are shown in the cut, figure 10.

[Illustration: FIG. 10.--Fine, closely woven cloth preserved by contact
with copper beads.]

Traces of basketry are rarely preserved either by charring or by contact
with copper. Matting is occasionally preserved in these ways. Figure 11
illustrates a piece of rush matting found fixed to the surface of a bit
of copper in a mound near Augusta, Georgia.

[Illustration: BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY THIRTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. VI
CHARRED CLOTH FROM MOUNDS IN OHIO.]

The weaving of the hair of many species of quadrupeds, the buffalo, the
opossum, the rabbit, etc., is noted by a number of authors, and a few
specimens of haircloth have been recovered from mounds. Mr. Henry R.
Howland found in a mound near Alton, Illinois, two varieties of cloth
preserved by contact with a copper ornament representing a
turtle-shell; they are described as follows:

Closely fitting over the outer surface of the copper shell
is, first, a woven cloth of a vegetable fibre, similar in its
general character to the outer matting above described,