Partly because of that decadence of aboriginal devices correlated with acculturation, partly by reason of imperfect observation, practically nothing is known of Seri spinning and weaving, and little of Seri sewing. The religiously-guarded hair-combings are twisted in the fingers and wound on stick-bobbins without aid of mechanical appliances; and, so far as has been observed, the final making of hair cords is merely a continuation of the strictly manual process. The agave stipes and mesquite roots are alleged by vaqueros to be retted in convenient lagoons and barrancas (a statement corroborated by the finding of half a dozen sections of mesquite root soaking in a lagoon near Punta Antigualla by the 1895 expedition), and then hatcheled with the hupf or the edge of a shell; when the fibers are gathered in slender wisps or loosely wound coils, both of which were among the possessions of the Seri matrons at Costa Rica in 1894. So far as could be ascertained, the final processes parallel those of hair-cord making, i. e., the fibers are patiently sorted into strands, sized in the fingers and twisted by rolling on the thigh, the strands being subsequently combined in similar fashion.[292] Neither the weaving nor the woven fabrics of the Seri have ever been seen by technologic students so far as known, though the fabrics are shown in Von Bayer’s photographs and have been described by various observers. According to Señor Encinas, they resemble coarse bagging, and are woven or netted quite plainly. The ordinary sewing material is sinew, used in connection with a bone awl (a good example of which is illustrated in figure 35), a fish spine or bone, a cactus thorn, or either the mandible of a water-bird or a hard-wood skewer shaped after this natural needle (figure 36 _a_ and _b_). Sometimes hair or vegetal fiber is substituted for the sinew; and for certain purposes an agave thorn, with the fibers naturally attached, serves for needle and thread. [292] A rope-twisting device of the sort commonly employed by southwestern Indians was found in use by Seri boys at Costa Rica in 1894, and was included in the Seri collection; but the indications were that the device was a mere toy used, like the horse-hair riatas made by its aid, only in youthful sports. [Illustration: FIG. 35—Bone awl.] [Illustration: FIG. 36—Wooden awls.]