ABORIGINAL AMERICAN I5ASKETRY 



207 



Alaska, and the Ilaida Indians, on the Queen Charlotte xsiands. 

 Neither of these great families use eoiled work, and they emplo}^ little 

 of other types of weaving' than the twined. The Tlinkits are more 

 ornamental and use colored grasses in their false embroider}^, while 

 the Ilaidas n(>ver employ such decorations, ])ut excel in plain and 

 diagonal twined work and in 8-strand weaving. Lieut, (x. T. Ennnons, 

 IT. S. Na\y," has studied these people closely foi- many years, and the 

 information regarding the borders of these tribes isdcrive(l Ti-oni him. 

 According to this authority, fully ninc^-tenths of all the baskets used 

 by th(^ Tliidvits are of the open cylindrical type, in which the border is 

 called ui)()n to sustain more than its })roporti()n of the wear in use. 

 Some tribes have always used certain trinnnings, plaitings, or braidings 

 to the exclusion of others, and the work of diti'erent periods within 

 tribal limits shows niai-k(Ml })i-efei-ences. Two principal methods are 

 employed in the finish of the l»()i-d(>r edge, (1) l)y trinunijig otf the waip 



•ni i:iCK-STRANl> WAUr HoKliKU. 



Porno Indians. 



Cat. No. 2032r):i. Collci-ted liy ,J. W. Hudson. 



ends flush with the last spiral of weave (see Plate 44), and (2) b}^ turn- 

 ing the warp over and fastening it down to the standing part by twined 

 weaving or braiding. The tirst system is always used with covered 

 baskets and generally with dou])le baskets, wdiere the two borders give 

 protection to each other, with hats and mats, juid generally with all types 

 of baskets made for the tourist trade. The second method is emplo3M^.d 

 in all open ])askets made for use and in the finer varieties with double 

 warp. When extreme nicety is required, the inner strand or layer of 

 the double warp is cut oti' two lines of weave below the top, so that 

 when the outer strand is turned down on the standing half the thick- 

 ness of the border is not increased beyond that of the regular walls. 

 But whether the warp is cut ofl" flush or turned over, the last few 

 spinds of weave are generalU^ strengthened l)y additional twining, 

 braiding, sennit, or embroidery. There are a few examples in the 



« Basketry of the Tlingit Indians, Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural 

 History, III, Tt. 3, 1903, pp. 229-277. 



