The Pima Indians/Technology/Artifacts/Textiles

by Frank Russell

TECHNOLOGY

Artifacts

TEXTILES

Spinning

The Pimas no longer spin and weave; the art is dying with the passing of the older generation. It was with difficulty that enough raw
Fig. 72. Model of loom. cotton of Pima raising was secured to make the beginning of a piece of cloth on the small model loom shown in figure 72. This loom was made by the writer's old friend Kâ’mâl tkâk, who, though an adept in weaving, could not spin and had to engage a woman to do that portion of the work. She removed the seeds by first spreading out the cotton and beating it with a switch.

Kâ’mâl tkâk succeeded in finishing the spinning (see spindle, fig. 73) before the writer had an opportunity to witness the process. However, it has been well descrihed by others.^[1]

Fortunately, Doctor Palmer obtained in 1885 a complete loom with sample balls of cotton thread (fig. 74) from the Pimas. The warp is smoothly and evenly spun into a thread about 1 mm. in diameter. The woof threads are softer and are about 3 mm. in diameter; the ball (Museum no. 76012) is 61 cm. in circumference.

Sinew from the back and legs of deer was made into thread and was used in tying cradle bars, shield handles, arrows, kiâhâ frames, and even tattooing needles.

An unidentified species of grass, called â’kivĭk by the Pimas, is said to have been spun into thread in ancient times. According to the myth, it supplied the son of Corn Woman with material for his bowstring. When there is sufficient rain, this grass grows on the Mo’hatûk hills, north of Gila Crossing.

Weaving

The art of weaving was not highly developed among the Pimas, yet the few simple fabrics of cotton which they produced sufficed to satisfy their needs for clothing and adornment.^[2] Unlike their neighbors, they have all but abandoned the art of weaving; at no time in their history have they advanced as far as the Pueblo tribes. Where they learned the art or if they developed it themselves we may not know. We can only hazard the guess that they had the ingenuity to imitate the fabrics which the Hohokam left behind or which the Pimas actually saw them using.

Early accounts of the Pima^[3] contain references to their fields of cotton, which was picked and spread on the roofs of their arbors to dry in the pod. When dried and separated from the pods it was stored in large ollas, where, if covered, it would keep for an indefinite period in that dry climate. Usually, however, it was stored until winter, when there was time for the women to spin it into threads and for the men to weave it^[4] into squares of cloth which served as robes for protecting the body by day and as blankets by night, girdles for the waist, and similar but smaller bands for the head. In later times it is said that bolts of cloth of considerable length were woven to be bartered with adjoining tribes, but this would seem not to have been in accordance with primitive custom.

Accounts of the Pimas that were written in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries contain references to the use of wool as well as native cotton, but very little information is obtainable concerning the use of wool, and there was not a single sheep on the reservation at the time of the writer's visit.

No dyes were used except a dark buff ocher^[5] bartered from the Papagos, into which the cotton was dipped. No mordant was used and the resulting color was neither brilliant nor permanent. However, it was applied only to the selvage thread. Bayeta was unraveled to obtain scarlet thread for belts after the inauguration of trade relations with the Mexicans.

Sewing was unknown, and holes were patched by weaving in a new piece.

Implements and methods. The loom was simpler than that used by the surrounding tribes and was spread horizontally instead of being set upright. Four stakes were first driven firmly in the ground outlining a rectangular space the exact size of the projected fabric. A deep layer of clean white sand from the river bed was spread between the stakes to prevent the under surface of the fabric from becoming soiled. The end or yarn beams were of saguaro ribs of suitable size, held in place across the end stakes by cords which were stretched taut at the sides. The beams were about 6 inches from the ground, thus permitting the warp to pass freely around them as it was wound over one and under the other in a continuous thread. A heavy double binding thread, usually dyed buff, was passed through the loops at the ends of the warp and was given a half turn as each loop was caught up. The yarn beams were then removed, leaving a lease rod of arrowwood in place of one of them. The binding thread was next bound to the yarn beams by a heavy thread wound in a spiral from end to end. The warp could then be stretched in place by again putting the beams outside the stakes and pulling the side cords taut. The heald rod was also of arrowwood put in place by passing a loop from a thread that had been slipped through the open shed from the right under each lower warp thread and pushing the rod through the loop from the left.

The weaver sat upon his haunches on the ground or on the cloth when it was finished too far for him to reach from the end. He lowered the lease rod beyond the heddle and gathered the upper threads in front of the heddle on a slender sharpened rod, which enabled him to lift them high enough to pass the shuttle through. The shuttle was an arrowwood stick to one end of which the weft thread was tied and then passed to the other in a slightly spiral direction; there it was wound twice around and then passed back; thus it was wound from end to end of the shuttle until the latter carried many yards of thread. After the shuttle was passed through the shed the thread was struck home with a flat batten of mesquite wood. If the warp threads were irregular, they were adjusted with a short peg which took the place of the comb used by the other tribes that weave in the Southwest.^[6] Two heavy selvage threads lay at the side of the warp, and as the shuttle was passed through the shed it was brought between them and they were given a half turn to engage the woof thread before it passed back in the other shed which was opened by raising the heddle.

The width of the cloth was not well maintained, as there was a strong tendency for it to become narrower, but by the aid of a stretcher or temple this was partially overcome. The temple had two longitudinal grooves separated by a distance equal to the width of the cloth. In each groove was placed a section of willow or arrowwood stem an inch in length, bound with a heavy thread around the stretcher. The outer end of the short stick was sharpened so that it might be pushed through the cloth under the selvage, thus rendering the temple readily adjustable.^[7]

The collection contains one old headband^[8] or belt (fig. 75, a), which its owner had laid away wrapped around bis long hair which he had been induced to cut off. It is woven from tightly twisted cotton yarn, the colors being black, white, green, and yellow, arranged in a zigzag pattern, as shown in the figure. The reverse side is without pattern and not intended to be seen. Another headband^[9] (fig. 75, b) was made to order and is of a much simpler design and style of weaving. The colors are black, white, and red.

There are two belts or headbands in the National Museum that were collected by Bartlett in 1850. One of these, no, 178911, is a fine specimen of double weaving.^[10] It is of tightly twisted cotton thread in dark blue, red, yellow, and white. The fringe threads are braided together so that two colors are united in each strand.

The other belt, no, 178910, is also double, and woven in dark blue, light blue, buff, red, and white.^[11]

The abandonment of the art of weaving these simple fabrics with their tasteful patterns is unfortunate. Their loss is relieved by no compensatory improvement in other directions.^[12]

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1. Lieutenant Emory thus describes the manner in which it was done in 1846: "A woman was seated on the ground under the shade of the cotton sheds [arbors on which the cotton was spread to dry]. Her left leg was tucked under her seat and her foot turned sole upwards. Between her big toe and the next was a spindle about 18 inches long, with a single fly of four or six inches. Ever and anon she gave it a twist in a dexterous manner, and at its end was drawn a coarse cotton thread." (Notes, 85.)
   "The implements used by these tribes for spinning and weaving are of the most primitive character. A slender stick about 2 feet long passing through a block of wood, which serves to keep up the momentum imparted to it, constitutes the spindle. One end of this rests on a wooden cup inserted between the toes and the other is held and twirled by the fingers of the right hand, while the left band is occupied in drawing out the thread from a supply of cotton which is coiled on the left arm in loose rolls." (Bartlett, Personal Narrative, II, 225.)

   The spindle collected is of arrowwood, the cross bar is of cactus rib. Length, 730 mm.; diameter, 7 mm.; length of bar, 175 mm.; width, 31 mm. (Fig. 73.)

2. "I suppose that all are provided with cotton blankets; but, owing to the almost, incessant heat of the day, they seldom wear them," writes Bartlett (Personal Narrative, II, 229); but in fact there were many poor Pimas who had no blankets and in winter they must have been miserable, indeed, despite the mildness of the climate. Those who were unable to weave but were well to do obtained blankets by bartering corn, beans, and other produce, or horses at the rate of one horse for two blankets.
3. Bartlett describes the Pima method of weaving as follows: "In weaving, the warp is attached to two sticks, and stretched upon the ground by means of stakes. Each alternate thread of the warp is passed round a piece of cane, which, being lifted, opens a passage for the shuttle in the manner of a sley. The operator sits in the fashion of a tailor, and, raising the sley with one hand, with the other passes the shuttle, which is simply a pointed stick with the thread wound upon it, between the threads of the warp. The work is beaten up after the passage of each thread by the use of a sharp smooth-edged instrument made of hard wood. The operation of course progresses slowly, and from the length of time consumed in spinning and weaving they set a high price upon their blankets, asking for them ten or twelve dollars in money, or a new woolen blanket of equal size. The weaving is generally done by the old men." (Personal Narrative, II, 225.)
4. It is of interest to note that this division of her differs from that of the Hopis and the Zuñis.
5. A sample of the mineral used was found upon analysis to contain 30.52 per cent ferric oxide.
6. Length of the specimen collected, 11 cm. It is shown in fig. 72 at the margin of the finished cloth, where it was pushed under a few threads to hold it in position for photographing.
7. Doctor Palmer collected a Pima loom in 1885, which is now in the National Museum, no. 76008. The beams are of cactus wood, 1.410 m. long, 6 cm.in diameter. The heddle is of arrowwood, the same length as the beams, and is 8 mm. in diameter. The blanket, which is about half finished, is 57 cm. wide and 1.100 m. long. The selvage is not dyed, but there is a red weft thread 29 cm. from the end and a second one near it which passes across the middle third of the cloth. The batten is 91 cm. long. 25 mm. wide, and the shuttle 92 cm. The cloth is smoothly and evenly woven, having 8 warp and 11 woof threads to the inch.
8. Length, 1.900 m.; width, 65 mm.
9. Length, 2.270 m.; width, 57 mm.
10. Length. 2 m.; width, 6 cm.; length of fringe, 15 cm.
11. Length, 2.03 m.; width, 65 mm. The fringe is 20 cm. in length and neatly braided.
12. Fröbel, who visited the Pimas half a century ago, says of their weaving. "Man würde sich aber irren wenn man glaubte, dass diese Künste durch die Bekehrung zum Christenthum befördert worden seien. Im Gegentheile sind sie dadurch in Verfall gerathen, denn bei den heidnischen Pimas findet man dieselben in einem höheren Grade von Vollkommenheit." Aus Amerika, II, 440.