2()0 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MURETTM, 1902. 



such an examination must ))g. Both in woven and in twined ware 

 many ])eautiful .specimens will be seen, whose edges differ not in the 

 slightest degree f I'om other portions of the basket. Indeed, the Tlin- 

 kit, the Porno, and the Mission weavers all frec^uently affect the plain 

 border on their ware, and certain kinds of plaques of the Hopi 

 Indians, said to be the workmanship of unmarried women, leave the 

 foundation exposed, and the work is suddenly brought to an end. 



Another fact will surprise the student, namely, that technically the 

 border is often in quite another class of weave. This grows, as will 

 be seen, out of the (exigencies of the case. A checker weaving, with 

 the edges left open all around, would l)e a flimsy affair. Coiled work 

 lends a hand in putting a flnish on woven work; the latter, or an 

 imitation of it, on the contrary, becomes an embellishment of the 

 f oruKn-. The drawings and the plates will explain more clearly than 

 words the structure of borders. The motive in this inquiry should be 

 to learn the steps or e\'olutionarv processes through which the inge- 

 nious savage Avoman's mind has 

 ])assed in this series of inven- 

 tions to discover, if possible, a 

 little truth about the relation- 

 ship and communication among 

 tribes in olden times, and to learn 

 some new manipulations in an 

 art now becoming popular. It 

 is like the lireaking out of an old 

 hereditar}' complaint in the tips 

 of the lingers. The borders will 

 be studied in the following-order: 

 Thelinishingoff in checker work, 

 in wicker work, in twilled work, in twined work, and in coiled work. 

 The first and simplest method of making borders is illustrated in 

 examples collected among the Abenaki Indians of Canada belonging 

 to the ^Vlgonquian famih'. The baskets are made of splints from the 

 ash, formerly worked out with aboriginal tools (see tig. 60), but 

 nowadays made l)y machinery. The foundation of the borders con- 

 sists of three narrow hoops. Ever}' alternate warp splint is cut off 

 flush, the others are bent down over the middle hoop and pushed 

 under the upper row of weaving, having first been pointed. Outside 

 and inside of this middle hoop and clasping the bends in the warp 

 splints are the other two hoops, the whole being bound securel}^ 

 together by a coiled sewing in splint. The specimen here figured is 

 Cat. No. 206390, U.S.N.M., made by Caroline Masta. Diameter, 5i 

 inches; height, 3 inches. 



The border of twilled work, when the weaving is finished, resembles 

 closely the interlacing of a series of crossed warps. In matting made 



Fig. GU. 

 coiled korder on checker weaving. 



Cat. No. 206;«t0. U.S.N.M. 



