Page 91 - TheHopiIndians

MESA FOLK OF HOPILAND 83

work. The Hopi housewives have enough to do keep
ing house, a thing not burdensome to the Navaho, and
as has been explained, the Hopi men hold a monopoly
of the spinning and weaving.
Time out of mind the Hopi have grown cotton in
their little fields, and the first white men that made
their acquaintance were presented with "towels" of
their weaving as a peace offering. In the cliff-houses
of the ancient people are found woven fabrics of cot
ton and rugs made of strips of rabbit fur like those
now to be seen in the pueblos. The ancient people
also had feather garments made by tying plumage to
a network of cords. In the ruins of the pueblos one
often finds cotton seeds which have been buried with
the dead, and the braided mats of yucca or bark and
bits of cloth fortunately preserved show that the peo
ple of former times were skilful weavers. There is
no reason to doubt that the Hopi stuffs were prized
for their excellence throughout the Southwest in the
early times as they are now.
When the Spaniards brought sheep among the pue
blos, the weavers and fabric makers seem to have ap
preciated the value of wool at once, and the ancient
garments of feathers and skins quickly disappeared.
Cotton remained in use only for ceremonial costumes
or for cord employed in the religious ceremonies. The
rabbit-fur robes which once were made throughout a
vast region of the Rockies from Alaska to the Gulf of
California were largely displaced by blankets, in later