HARRIS TWEED, the description applied to all-wool tweed fabrics of coarse and open texture, but having a soft feel. They are produced in Lewis and other islands of the Outer Hebrides, off the north-west coast of Scotland. The true Harris tweeds are made by the cottars and crofters who employ the best grades of native blackface or Cheviot wool in the natural colours, and also dyed with the natural vegetable dyes. The fleece wool is scoured, combed and spun into worsted threads by the primitive distaff method of hand-spinning, and then woven on primitive hand-looms, in the crofters' homes. Hence, the term "homespun tweed," said to be a corruption of the Scottish word "tweel," and English "twill." Harris homespun tweeds are distinguished for their great dura bility and a peculiar peaty odour, which is actually simulated in the many imitations of Harris tweeds produced by modern spinning and weaving machinery. The superiority of the home-made over the machine-made tweeds is said to be due to the use of long stapled wool in the homespun yarn, in addition to this being spun with a little more twist; whereas the machine-made Harris tweeds are sometimes produced from a mixture of wool and shoddy, which is spun with less twist in order to make a cheaper fabric. Very cheap and inferior imitations of Harris and Scotch tweeds are also produced from yarn spun from a mixture of both cotton and shoddy. (See TWEED.) (H. N.)