{20} It is a very slow and fatiguing process, and
a woman cannot do much more than a foot a day. The weaver sits on
the floor with the whole arrangement attached to her waist, and the
loom, if such it may be called, on her ankles. It takes long
practice before she can supply the necessary tension by spinal
rigidity. As the work proceeds she drags herself almost
imperceptibly nearer the hook. In this house and other large ones
two or three women bring in their webs in the morning, fix their
hooks, and weave all day, while others, who have not equal
advantages, put their hooks in the ground and weave in the
sunshine. The web and loom can be bundled up in two minutes, and
carried away quite as easily as a knitted soft blanket. It is the
simplest and perhaps the most primitive form of hand-loom, and
comb, shuttle, and roll, are all easily fashioned with an ordinary
knife.
LETTER XXXVII - (Continued)
A Simple Nature-Worship - Aino Gods - A Festival Song - Religious
Intoxication - Bear-Worship - The Annual Saturnalia - The Future
State - Marriage and Divorce - Musical Instruments - Etiquette - The
Chieftainship - Death and Burial - Old Age - Moral Qualities.
There cannot be anything more vague and destitute of cohesion than
Aino religious notions.
