[Illustration: PL. XXXIV.--NAVAJO WOMAN SPINNING.]

There are, the Indians tell me, three different processes for dyeing
yellow; two of these I have witnessed. The first process is thus
conducted: The flowering tops of _Bigelovia graveolens_ are boiled for
about six hours until a decoction of deep yellow color is produced.
When the dyer thinks the decoction strong enough, she heats over the
fire in a pan or earthen vessel some native almogen (an impure native
alum), until it is reduced to a somewhat pasty consistency; this she
adds gradually to the decoction and then puts the wool in the dye to
boil. From time to time a portion of the wool is taken out and
inspected until (in about half an hour from the time it is first
immersed) it is seen to have assumed the proper color. The work is
then done. The tint produced is nearly that of lemon yellow. In the
second process they use the large, fleshy root of a plant which, as I
have never yet seen it in fruit or flower, I am unable to determine.
The fresh root is crushed to a soft paste on the _metate_, and, for a
mordant, the almogen is added while the grinding is going on. The cold
paste is then rubbed between the hands into the wool. If the wool does
not seem to take the color readily a little water is dashed on the
mixture of wool and paste, and the whole is very slightly warmed. The
entire process does not occupy over an hour and the result is a color
much like that now known as "old gold."

The reddish dye is made of the bark of _Alnus incana_ var. _virescens_
(Watson) and the bark of the root of _Cercocarpus parvifolius_; the
mordant being fine juniper ashes. On buckskin this makes a brilliant
tan-color; but applied to wool it produces a much paler tint.