Cedar bark which has been softened and shredded plays an important part in the clothing of this region, especially in blankets like that in Figure 4. The blanket here, however, is not of cedar bark but of goat's hair for a number of materials are made use of by this technic. In this weaving the warps are not thrown over the crossbeam as in the other loom but are supported on a cord which itself is bound to the beam by another cord. Neither are the warps united by a strip of weft running over and under but by a two strand weft element which twines about the warps. To my knowledge this form of weaving has never been reproduced by machinery as no machine can make threads twine. The blankets of cedar bark are undecorated, but those of wool frequently have strands of another color passed across the surface and caught into the weaving from time to time, producing similar designs to that in Figure 4. As observed in the illustration the lines of weft are not driven home but are set some distance apart, the space between varying on different garments. At the lower edge, however, there is frequently found a band of closely woven twining, at other times a band of fur, or a long fringe may complete the edge. [Illustration: FIGURE 5.--UNFINISHED CHILKAT BLANKET.] The most beautiful weaving of western British Columbia is the Chilkat blanket, Figures 5 and 6, a weaving which is unique in technic and design, both in primitive and modern textile art. It is a ceremonial garment and the gorgeous designs in white, blue, yellow and black are of totemic significance and relate to the ceremonial life of the Indian. In earliest times this blanket was undecorated, a plain field of white; then color was introduced on the white field in stripes of herring-bone pattern typifying raven's tail, because similar to the vanes of the tail feathers; and later the elaborate geometric designs of present day blankets developed. These 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.]