ABORIGINAL AMERICAN BASKETRY. 



245 



of the basket it i.s plain coiled sewing", showing the foundation rod 



clearly ])etween the stitches. Passing tlu^ awl jjoint between the 



stitches on the inside, it is carefully pushed through so as to divide 



the sewing splint of the previous coil exactly in the middle. This 



gives the appearance of embroidery stitches from 



the center of the bottom to the outer mai'gin. This 



specimen of furcated stitching is in the collection of 



Edward L. McLeod. Those familiar with the coiled 



basket making taught in the industrial schools will 



compare this work with their own, in which the 



colored raha is hidden in the foundation for a space 



of wrapping and comes out at the point where the 



double stitch is to be made. 



The transition ])etween lace w^ork and coiled bas- 

 ketry is interesting. In the netted bags of pita 

 fiber, common throughout middle America, in the 

 muskemoots or Indian bags of tine caribou skin 

 thong from the Mackenzie River district, as well as 

 in the lace-like netting of the Mohave carrying 

 frames and Peruvian textiles, the sewing and inter- 

 locking constitute the whole texture, the woman 

 doing her work over a short cylinder or spreader of 

 wood or bone, which she moves along as she woi'ks. 

 When the plain sewing changes to half hitches, or 

 stitches in wdiich the moving part of the filament or 

 twine is wrapped or served one or more times about 

 itself, there is the rude beginning of point lace work. 

 This is seen in basketry and soft wallets of the Mac- 

 kenzie River tribes, the Hopewell mound relics in 

 Ohio, here and there in California, and especially 

 among the Fuegians, as well as in many pieces from 

 various parts of the Old World. (See iigs. 59, 115). 



The sewing materials vary with the region. In 

 the Aleutian Islands it is of delicate straw; in the 

 adjacent region it is spruce root; in British Colum])ia 

 it is cedar or spruce root; in the more diversified 

 styles of the Pacific States every availal)le material 

 has been used — stripped leaf, grass stems, I'ushes, 

 split root, broad fillets, and twine, the etiect of each 

 being well marked. The gathering and preparation 

 of these materials for use have already been described in the first por- 

 tion of this paper. It is understood that, as in woven basketry, the 

 grasses, roots, and splints of wood are soaked in water and kept as 

 pliable as possible until the work is done. 



In all coiled basketry, properly so called, there is a foundation more 



Fig. 40. 



bone awl for coiled 



basketry. 



Collected by Edward 

 Palnior. 



