as to produce a diagonal pattern.
One series of the cords is fine and well twisted, the other coarser and
very slightly twisted.

The remarkable sample of matting shown in Fig. 99 is from a small piece
of pottery from Alabama. It has been worked in the diagonal style, but
is somewhat different from the last example. It has probably been made
of rushes or heavy blades of grass.

[Illustration: Fig. 99.--From the ancient pottery of Alabama.]

The texture shown in Fig. 100 is from a rather indistinct impression
upon a small fragment of pottery from Iowa. One series of the strands
seems to have been quite rigid, while the other has been pliable, and
appear in the impression only where they have crossed the rigid series.
The dotted lines indicate their probable course on the under side of the
cross threads.

[Illustration: Fig. 100.--From ancient pottery, Iowa.]

This form of fabric is very common in modern work.

FIFTH GROUP.

In Fig. 101 I present a variety of ancient fabric which has not to my
knowledge been found upon ceramic products. This specimen shows the
method of plaiting sandals practiced by the ancient inhabitants of
Kentucky. Numbers of these very interesting relics have been obtained
from the great caves of that State. They are beautifully woven, and well
shaped to the foot.

[Illustration: Fig. 101.--Plaiting of a sandal, Kentucky cave.]

The fiber has the appearance of bast and is plaited in untwisted
strands, after the manner shown in the illustration. Professor Putman
describes a number of cast-off sandals from Salt Cave, Kentucky, as
"neatly made of finely braided and twisted leaves of rushes."[5]

[Footnote 5: Putnam, F. W. Eighth Annual Report of the Peabody
Museum, p. 49.]

Fig. 102 illustrates a somewhat similar method of plaiting practiced by
the Lake Dwellers of Switzerland, from one of Keller's figures.[6]

[Illustration: Fig. 102.--Braiding done by the Lake-Dwellers.]

[Footnote 6: Keller, Dr. F. Lake Dwellers. Fig. 3; Pl. CXXXVI.]

SIXTH GROUP.

The art of making nets of spun and twisted cords seems to have been
practiced by many of the ancient peoples of America. Beautiful examples
have been found in the _huacas_ of the Incas and in the tombs of the
Aztecs. They were used by the prehistoric tribes of California and the
ancient inhabitants of Alaska. Nets were in use by the Indians of
Florida and Virginia at the time of