The Pima Indians/Technology/Artifacts/Fiber and Leather

by Frank Russell

TECHNOLOGY

Artifacts

FIBER AND LEATHER

Saddle

In addition to the wooden saddletrees already mentioned the Pimas made them each of two rolls of grass or straw, inclosed in blue denim or canvas and bound with a network of rawhide. A specimen^[1] in the collection (pl. XV, a, b) has two such rolls fastened together with both horsehair and maguey cords. The top is covered with leather
Fig. 35. Saddle bag. taken from two old boot legs. One stirrup is wanting; the one that remains is of native manufacture. The accompanying cinch (pl. XV, c)^[2] is of horsehair neatly twisted and quite strong and serviceable. When used, it was passed over the saddle instead of being attached to it. A Pima is rarely seen riding bareback, and most have good saddles of American manufacture. Bartlett states that those who rode bareback at the time of his visit in 1850 thrust one foot under a loosely fastened surcingle.^[3]

Saddlebag

A coarse net of maguey fiber is made to carry bulky objects upon either pack or riding saddles. The fibers are twisted into two strands, which are united to form a rope 5 mm. in diameter; with this the meshes are made about 12 cm. in length by an interlocking knot of the simplest character. The bag in the collection is about 1 m. in length (fig. 35).

Head Rings

The round-bottomed water jars and many similar heavy burdens besides were borne upon the heads of the women with the aid of the rings of willow bark in the early days, and new with rings of rags wrapped with cotton cloth.^[4] Of less common use are the agave-leaf rings, which should be classed as twined basketry.^[5] They are folded at each margin so that a ring is made up of three thicknesses of matting. This ring is smaller than the other types and is used for lighter burdens (fig. 36, b). Almost any cloth (fig. 36, c) may be improvised into a head ring, and aprons are especially convenient for such use.

a	b	c
Fig. 36. Head rings. a, Willow bark; b, agave leaf; c, cloth.

Rope

Picket ropes of maguey fiber (figs. 37, b and 38) are brought by the Papagos to trade to the Pimas. They are about 10 m. long and 1 cm. in diameter, made of four 2-ply strands. They ere strong, but the harsh and coarse fiber renders them disagreeable to the touch of any but a hardened hand. The prepared fibers for rope making in this collection measure 60 cm. in length. With such material and a rope twister the process of manufacturing rope is a rapid one.

a	b
Fig. 37. a, Horsehair halter; b, maguey rope.

Human hair is both twisted and braided into cords for tightening kiâhâ frames. The cords are usually made of four strands of 2-ply twisted threads. They are about 5 mm. in diameter when finished.

Fig. 38. Maguey fiber.

Halters

Horsehair is quite popular as a material for the manufacture of halters. The halter here illustrated (fig. 37, a) has a loop of light cord, 45 cm. in length, to be passed over the horse's head. The rope has a loop 26 cm. long that passes over the nose. The length of the rope from the knot of this loop is 3.150 m. It is of four strands of 4-ply threads, one of the strands being white.

Bridles

Bridles are also made of horsehair, vicious looking bits being sold by the traders for them.

a	b
Fig. 39. a, Fetish; b, hair ornament.

Fetish

The collection contains a fetish (fig. 39, a) and a hair ornament made of seven wing feathers of a hawk (fig. 39, b) which have been joined by laying a strip of cotton cloth on the quill of each feather and binding it there with sinew, then braiding the loose ends of the strips together into a cord 15 cm. long. In this way the feathers are permanently fastened to one another and may be easily attached when it is desired to wear them as a fetish, or they may be readily attached to the hair to form a portion of the headdress.

War Headdress

At Gila Crossing we were so fortunate as to secure a specimen of an old Pima headdress made from the hair of an Apache and the wing feathers of three species of large raptorial birds (fig. 40). The hair is about 45 cm. long and is gathered in strands 1 cm. in thickness, which are held by two strips of cotton that are twisted or twined on each other a half turn between each pair of hair strands.^[6] Viewing the headdress from the rear there are on the left four owl feathers, symbolizing keenness of vision by night; next are three hawk, then one owl, and again hawk feathers to the number of five, symbolizing keenness of vision by day; on the right are two eagle feathers, the symbol of swiftness. Thus the wearer of this headdress possessed the courage and cunning of the hated enemy, the keen sight by day and by night of the birds that have great magic power, according to Pima belief, and the swiftness as a trailer of the king of birds, which occupies a prominent place in Piman mythology.

Fig. 40. War headdress.

Hairbrush

Using their fingers as combs, the women become very skillful in straightening out tangled locks. They frequently smooth the hair with a brush which was formerly made of the roots of the "Sacaton grass," Sporobolus wrightii (fig. 41, a),^[7] but as this no longer grows along the river, where the majority of the villages are situated, they now make use of maguey fiber, Agave lecheguea, Yucca paccata, etc. (fig. 41, b).^[8] These fibers make very satisfactory brushes, but they are not so stiff as brushes made of bristles. The fibers are not set in a handle but are tied in a round bundle a little below the middle, then folded outward from the center so that the upper end or handle is round and smooth while the lower end includes all the free fiber ends. Twine is then wrapped in a coil around the upper end downward until the brush end remains just long enough to give the fibers play in passing through the hair. The wrapping may be either of fiber or of horsehair; in the latter case pleasing geometric patterns are often worked out with contrasted black and white threads. The specimen illustrated in figure 41, b is bound with maguey fiber which has been decorated with three lines of purple dye, put on after the wrapping has been completed.

Skin Dressing

The use of leather in the manufacture of clothing was reduced to a minimum among the Pimas. For sandals, rawhide sufficed, and if this was not to be had there was an abundance of yucca fiber, which made a fair substitute. For the shields, with the use of which they became adept through training from childhood, rawhide was employed. So the needs which dressed leather alone could satisfy were but few, and it is probable that Gileño women did little more than enough skin dressing to keep the art alive among them. At present there are
ba
Fig. 41. Hairbrushes. a, Sacaton grass roots; b, maguey fiber. very few who know anything about it, and this is the method which they say "long ago make it."

A skin was soaked in water for two or three days to soften it; then it was laid on an inclined log and the hair scraped off with a deer's rib. Two tanning media were used—brains and saguaro seeds. The former were kept dried into a cake with dry grass until they were needed, when they were softened in water. The seeds were available at any time, as they were always kept in store as an article of food.

The roots of the plant known as urto, Krameria parvifolia, were used to dye leather red.

Fire Bag

Leather bags were used to carry flint and steel, and a specimen of these comparatively modern articles is shown in figure 42. It is ornamented with tin bangles and glass beads.
Fig. 42. Fire bag.

Tobacco Pouches

Tobacco was not recognized by the Pimas as a narcotic that would stunt the growth in youth or injuriously affect the heart as age advanced, nor yet as a solace for leisure moments. It was to them a plant of divine origin that in its death (burning) released a spirit (odor and smoke) that was wafted by the breeze to the home of the magic beings that shape man's destiny. Throughout Pimería one may find sacred places where large numbers of cane cigarettes have been deposited by worshipers. It is uncertain how far this form of cigarette was in use by the Pimas. Most of those found were made by the Hohokam.^[9]

To carry this sacred powder it was necessary to have something more than an ordinary receptacle, and so pouches were made of buckskin, ornamented in vivid colors with symbols of the sun and provided with rattles that tinkled with every motion of the wearer. Both in shape and in ornament they closely resemble the tobacco pouches of the Apaches. There are two specimens in the National Museum. No. 27840 (fig. 43, a) is of buckskin,^[10] doubled so that the opening of the pouch on the unornamented half is covered by the fold. The margin is ornamented by a fringe of short strings of buckskin passed through holes along the edge of the pouch, most of them having cylinders of tin, slightly bell-shaped, arranged in pairs and pinched into place around the thongs by pounding. The front bears a conventional symbol of the sun in red and blue. There is a short loop with which to suspend the pouch from the belt or to hang it up when not in use.

Another pouch, no. 27839 (fig. 48, b, c), is of soft deerskin, with ared fringe made by parallel cuts along the edge. There are a few tin bangles at the bottom. The margin is ornamented inside the fringe with a herring-bone pattern burned on. One side of the pouch has a human figure and the other bears two sun symbols. These are very similar to some seen by the writer upon the walls of caves in the Chiricahui mountains, an old Apache stronghold.^[11] The pouch is sewed with cotton thread and secured at the top by an American button. The cord for suspension has 4 clusters of 6 bangles each upon it.

Sling

Slings were used by Pima youths before the advent of the whites. They were of the usual elongated oval shape. The National Museum contains a sling, no. 76031, that was obtained from tho Pimas half a century ago. It is of leather, probably cut from a boot leg, with strings 68.5 cm. long. The imperforate center is 18 by 7 cm. (fig. 44).

Shield

The fighting men were divided into two parties—those who used the bow and those who fought with club and shield. When advancing upon the enemy, the warrior crouched so that the comparatively small shield protected his entire body. He also leaped from side to side for the double purpose of presenting a more difficult target, and of bewildering the enemy and thus unsteadying their nerves through the suggestion of magic, which plays a larger part in the warfare of the American Indian than is generally known. The preparation for a war expedition is an invocation to the gods and the ceremonies during the journey are incantations for the development of magic power that shall not only render the party invincible but shall induce its magic power, on its own account, to overwhelm the magic power of the enemy. It is not the strength nor the intelligence of the Apache that they fear, nor his arrow with its sting, but his magic—a creation of their own imagination. And so the shield, with its magic symbols in brilliant colors, is kept in rapid motion not only from side to side but also revolving by the reciprocal twist of the bearer's forearm.

A long and careful search failed to disclose the presence of a single old shield among the Pimas, but there is a specimen in the National Museum, no. 27830, that was obtained several years ago (fig. 45, a, b). It is a rawhide disk 49 cm. in diameter, provided with a cottonwood handle of convenient size for grasping. The handle is slightly concave on the side next to the shield. It is attached by means of thongs, which pass through two holes for each end of the handle, at the center of the disk. When not in use, it was carried by a sling strap that passed through two holes at the border 24 cm. apart. It is ornamented by an ogee swastika in blue, red, and white.

There are also two models of Pima shields in the National Museum. One is a small painted disk of rawhide; the other is a hoop with muslin stretched over it. The former, no. 76073 (fig. 46, b), is ornamented with a cross in white, blue, red, and yellow. The latter, no. 76028 (fig. 46, a), is 225 mm. in diameter, or about one-third the full size. The design in red and yellow is also in the form of a cross.

A similar shield decorated with swastika in red and white (fig. 47) was collected in 1887 by Mr F.W. Hodge, of the Hemenway Expedition, and by him presented to the Free Museum of the University of Pennsylvania.

Sandals

Some protection for the feet was necessary when on journeys across the stony mesas and mountains that surround the Pima villages. Rawhide was the most widely used material and the sandal was the form of foot gear. It was kept in place by a single thong, which passed through two holes in the front of the sandal, so as to go between the first and second and the fourth and fifth toes, then backward obliquely across the foot, so that the two parts crossed each other over the instep, down through a hole in the end of a heel plate and around behind the heel, where it was doubled back through the hole in the opposite end of the heel plate, and so on forward again. The heel plate passes transversely through two longitudinal slits in the heel of the sandal and is of the same hard and stiff rawhide. The doubled thongs behind the heel are usually wound with softer material to prevent chafing (fig. 48).

Yoke Straps

Ox yokes were bound to the horns of the animals by long strips of hide that had been roughly dressed without removing the hair. The two straps collected were the only ones seen. It is some years since they were last used for this purpose, and it is not surprising that most such straps should have been employed for other needs (fig. 49).

Lariat

The use of the lariat was, of course, learned from the whites and was developed gradually with the tardy introduction of live stock. The "rope," as it is universally known in the Southwest, is of rawhide made in a 4-ply braid, rounded by pounding when wet. The slip noose at the outer end is supplied with an ingenious loop made by folding a heavy piece of rawhide three or four times and bringing the ends together to form an oval ring. The end of the rope is passed through a longitudinal slit in one end of the ring and by a braided enlargement prevented from being pulled out again. A strip of rawhide about 1 cm. in width is rolled in the interior of the ring, and passing through a transverse cut close to one end it is continued around the outside, being itself slit where the rope enters the ring, and also passing under two loops made by catching up the outer layer of hide on the ring it then passes through a transverse slit in the outer and overlapping end of the ring and is knotted. It therefore passes twice around the ring and is the only means of uniting the ends of it. When hardened the ring is large enough to permit free play of the rope through it.^[12]

Horned Toad Effigy

Among the most highly prized objects made of leather by the Pimas, found by the writer, was a life-sized effigy of a horned toad. It is of deerskin, ornamented with white beads, as shown in figure 50, a. It was used in the cure of the toad disease by being passed over the affected part. This act and the singing of the toad songs effected a complete cure, our informant believed. Figure 50, b, is a photograph of a living horned toad.

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1. Length, 60 cm.; diameter of rolls at the middle, 10 cm. They are thickened slightly at the ends to form pommel and cantle.
2. Length, 75 cm.; width, 7 cm.
3. Narrative, II, 237.
4. The bark head ring (fig. 36, a) is 135 mm. in diameter and the opening in the center is 42 mm. in diameter.
5. Diameter of specimen collected, 10 cm.; height, 165 mm.
6. The general use of human hair for cords and in headdresses by the Pimas suggests Lower Californian affinities, as we are told by Venegas that the natives of that peninsula were accustomed to adorn themselves on ceremonial occasions with "a large cloak covering them from their head to their feet, and entirely composed of human hair." History of California. I, 99.
7. Length of specimen figured, 22 cm.; diameter, 37 mm.
8. Length of specimen figured, 17 cm.; diameter, 18 mm.
9. At the present time most men and some women smoke cigarettes rolled in corn husks or paper, obtained, as is much of the tobacco, from the whites. The native tobaccos are: Nicotiana trigonophylla, known as viʼopal viʼofû, "like tobacco," gathered near Baboquivari by the Papagos and brought to the Pimas; N. bigelovii, known as pan vi’ofû, "coyote tobacco," and N. attenuata, called rsukal ʌuʼtca viʼofû, "under-the-creosote-bush tobacco." Boys learn to smoke at an early age, though the use of tobacco is not encouraged. The father's favorite saying in reply to a request for tobacco is, "I will give you some when you kill a coyote."
10. Length, 10 cm.; width, 11 cm.; 114 bangles.
11. Length, l7 cm.; width, 16 cm.
12. Length of lariat, 13.93 m.; diameter, 9 mm. Length of loop ring, 6 cm.; width, 4 cm.