but
of a stronger and better preserved fibre, apparently more
like that which forms the woven coating of the Davenport
axes. This is covered in turn with a softer, finer fabric,
now of a dark-brown color, formed of twisted strands, laid or
matted closely together, though apparently not woven. The
material of which these strands are formed proves, under
microscopic examination, to be animal hair.[56]

[Illustration: FIG. 11.--Small portion of rush matting preserved by
contact with copper.]

An illustration of ancient split cane matting is presented in figure 12.
The specimen was obtained from Petite Anse island, near Vermilion bay,
southern coast of Louisiana, and a photograph was presented to the
Smithsonian Institution in 1866, by J. F. Cleu. The following
description, as given by Prof. Joseph Henry, appears on the label
attached to the specimen:

This fragment of matting was found near the surface of the
salt, and about 2 feet above it were remains of tusks and
bones of a fossil elephant. The peculiar interest in regard
to the specimen is in its occurrence in situ 2 feet below the
elephant remains, and about 14 feet below the surface of the
soil, thus showing the existence of mart on the island prior
to the deposit in the soil of the fossil elephant. The
material consists of the outer bark of the common southern
cane (_Arundinaria macrosperma_), and has been preserved for
so long a period both by its silicious character and the
strongly saline condition of the soil.

FABRICS IMPRESSED ON POTTERY.

It was a common practice among the aborigines to employ woven fabrics in
the construction and ornamentation of earthenware. Impressions were thus
left on the clay, and by baking these were rendered as lasting as if
engraved on stone.

From no other source do we obtain so wide a range of fabrics. The
fabric-marked vases and sherds are obtained from mounds, graves, and
village sites all over the country. There is not a state within the
Mississippi or Atlantic drainage that does not furnish some example of
the preservation of native fabric impressions on earthenware. The
perfection with which every character of these textures is preserved is
well shown in a number of the figures here introduced.

A somewhat extended study of this subject was published in the Third
Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, and illustrations of nearly
all the sty