e designs are first painted
upon a pattern board the size and shape of those which are to appear
upon the blanket, and it is from this pattern board that the squaw
weaves her pattern. But although the woman (Figure 7) does weave the
blanket, the man also has his part in the process as he furnishes the
loom, the pattern board and the skin of the goat. The squaw prepares
all the materials and collects the bark, for the warp is of shredded
two-ply cedar bark wrapped with a thread of wool, while the weft is
entirely of the soft wool of the mountain goat.

[Illustration: FIGURE 6.--OLD CHILKAT BLANKET.]

[Illustration: FIGURE 7.--SQUAW WEAVING CHILKAT BLANKET.]

Lieut. G. T. EMMONS tells us that the goat of this region abounds in
the rugged coast mountains from Puget Sound to Cook's Inlet, but is
unknown on the outlying islands. Its preference is the glacial belt
and snow-fields of the most broken country and the terraced sides of
the precipitous cliffs. It is gregarious in habit being found in bands
of from ten to fifty or more. From September until April the skin is
in prime condition with an abundance of soft wool under a heavy
covering of long coarse hair; but the hunting is only done in the
autumn. To prepare for the plucking, the skin must be kept wet on the
underside so it is moistened and rolled up for several days, thus
loosening the hold of the fleece. With thumb and fingers of both
hands the squaw, seated upon the ground, pushes the fleece from her,
procuring by this process great patches of wool and hair. Then the
hairs are plucked out and thrown away and the wool is ready to be
spun. During the spinning the woman also sits upon the ground with
legs outstretched, with the crude wool by her left side within easy
reach. This she draws out with her left hand and feeds to her right,
in the amount necessary to form the required size of thread. As it is
received between the palm of the right hand and the right thigh, it is
rolled from the body and falls to the side in loose, connected thread.
This soft thread is next spun between the palm of the hand and the
thigh to form a single tightly twisted strand; and by the same process
two of these strands are rolled together to form the weft thread for
the blanket. In technic the blanket is related to the last one
described for it is a twine weaving, but a twilled twine as the two
strand weft encloses two warps at a move and with each succeeding line
of weft advanc