A piece of fabric of much interest is presented in plate IV. It may be an unfinished garment of the class shown in the preceding illustration, but it is more likely a complete skirt, the narrow woven band with its gathering string serving as a belt and the long fringe being the skirt. The length at the gathered edge is 34 inches, and the pendant length is 20 inches. The material and the weaving are the same as in the piece of cloth already described, although the work is somewhat coarser. A detailed study of the border is given in figure 6, the vertical series of threads being pulled apart to show more distinctly the manner of combination. [Illustration: FIG. 5.--Portion of mantle showing manner of weaving.] [Illustration: FIG. 6.--Analysis of the weaving of fringed skirt. Threads natural size.] The two pieces just described would seem to correspond pretty closely with the garments formerly worn by women and girls of the lower Mississippi country, as illustrated by Du Pratz in a plate facing page 310, volume II, of his Histoire de la Louisiane. His plate is reproduced in figure 7. The following are translations of his descriptions of the garments delineated: The women in warm weather have only a half ell of limbourg, with which they are covered; they fold this cloth around the body and are well clothed from the waist to the knees; when they have no limbourg they use in the same way a deer skin.[54]. When the girls reach the age of eight or nine years they are clothed from the waist to the ankles with a fringe of threads of mulberry bark, fastened to a band [Illustration: BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY THIRTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. IV FRINGED SKIRT.] which is attached below the abdomen; there is also another band above the abdomen which meets the first at the back; between the two the body is covered in front by a network which is held there by the bands, and at the back there are merely two large cords, each having a tassel.[55] [Illustration: FIG. 7.--Former costumes of woman and girl in Louisiana (after Du Pratz).] Of equal interest to the preceding is the badly frayed bag shown in plate V. It is 20 inches in length and 13 inches in depth. The style of weaving is the same as that of the two preceding examples; a peculiar open effect is produced by the rotting out of certain strands of dark color, which were arranged in pairs alternating with eight lighter threads. The construction of the border or rim of this bag is quite remarkable. As shown in figure 8, the upper ends of the vertical