A New Type of Spinning in North America

Abstract

WHILE assembling the material for a forthcoming publication on the Indian blanket of the northwest, under the joint authorship of Dr. C. F. Newcombe, James Teit, and the writer, a unique manner of spinning was noted among two of the Salish tribes. It is a method quite different from any previously described from peoples of lower culture either in America, or in other parts of the world. This mode of spinning in all probability furnished the yarn for at least three of the seven distinct types of blankets made by the Indians of the Northwest. Of the older examples of these, only a few remain scattered in the museums of America and Europe, where there is nothing on record concerning them save that they were collected by Captain Cook, or some early explorer. It is the unusual character of these rare old blankets, some kinds of which have not been made in the last half century, that first aroused an interest which led to a general study of blankets from this area. This interest resulted in a union with the two authorities, Dr. Newcombe, known for his wide acquaintance with the Indians of the Northwest Coast and James Teit, eminent in his knowledge of the Indians on the northwestern plateau, on a publication which it is hoped will be a valuable contribution to the subject. To return to the spinning: the unrecorded type was found in three Cowichan villages, Nanaimo and Kockasailo on Vancouver island, and Musqueam on the mainland; as well as in the two Thompson villages, Yale and Spuzzam. As is generally known, primitive people produce yarn in two ways; without a device or with a spindle. It is the second that concerns us here, since it is the manner of using this spinning device which differs from its use in other localities. Spindle spinning has heretofore been thought to be of two kinds: spinning with a free spindle, that is, one twirling 264