94 BULLETIN 134, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



are folded sharply over and plaited again in the twilled style, one 

 under and over three, so as to lock one another and to build up the 

 sides, which begin with two or more rows of such herringbone 

 frames (pi. 23, No. 5). 



Once the corners have been turned, little difficulty is experienced 

 in the plaiting of the sides according to the pattern desired. In 

 order to trim the free edges of the sides when completed, the two 

 layers of strands are (lapped) plaitwise, respectively, outward and 

 inward upon themselves and the projecting ends cut. 



Where one hourglass only is plaited, the resulting foundation, to 

 be symmetrical, must be a square, and the completed basket derived 

 from it more or less round, giving rise to the more or less project- 

 ing corners where the rectangular base plaiting is changed to the 

 cylindrical lateral basketry walls. 



Roth, 17 referring to the ornamental design obtained in this bas- 

 ketry technique met with among Arawak, warrau, and Carib stocks 

 of Guiana, writes: 



The following objects are to be found illustrated on the side panels of these 

 stained hourglass pattern pegalls, baskets, satchels, etc. Taking plants, there 

 is the wild nutmeg {Myristica), the darli tree of the Arawak and Warrau, 

 indicated by its main and secondary branches, which certainly possess a char- 

 acteristic appearance in between the other forest trees. This coupled with the 

 fact that its fruit is edible and its sap utilized as a mouth wash and as a cure 

 for " yaws ' may perhaps account for the frequency of the pattern. Then we 

 find a centipede, butterflies, and a certain edible periwinkle, shown by its sinu- 

 ous tracks on the mud flats in single, double, treble, or multiple rows. Next 

 comes a scorpion, a water beetle, and the edible Calandra grub, fish, reptiles, 

 turtles, frogs, and snakes. Snakes are represented by at least three different 

 methods : By a more or less accurate figure of the body generally, by a picto- 

 graph indicating the sinuous nature of the creature's movements, or its con- 

 centric arrangement when coiled at rest; and by an imitation of the body 

 surface markings, as in the case of the boa constrictor, etc. 



Although the patterns achieved by the basket maker of south- 

 eastern Panama in a similar manner are numerous, the intent to rep- 

 resent pictographically a multitude of life forms is probably lack- 

 ing. The modeling of pattern forms is there highly conventionalized 

 and the basket maker learns to imitate certain patterns, the original 

 significance of which, as life form designs, he may or may not be 

 cognizant. 



Range of hourglass basketry technique. — For purposes of com- 

 parison the small telescoping baskets made by the Chitimacha In- 

 dians of Southern Louisiana may be considered (pi. 23, No. 3). The 

 baskets are beautifully woven in three colors, the natural straw, 

 black, and a reddish brown. A twilled diaper weave is worked 

 into patterns which make difficult the distinction between them and 



17 38th Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 1017, p. 354. 



