282 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1902. 



SHAPES OF BASKETS AS A WHOLE 



The shapes of basketry have relation to the forms of solid geometry. 

 The cube, the cone, the cylinder, the sphere, are the bases of all sim- 

 ple and complicated varieties. In softer material basketry approaches 

 mattino-. The products are then flat or pliable, although the process 

 of manufacture is the same. Among the eastern tribes of the United 

 States the Algoiikin and Iroquois baskets are all cylindrical or rect- 

 angular in outline. The same is true of the tribes in the Southern 

 United States, although the greater flexibilit}^ of the reed cane invites 

 the basket weaver to a wider diversity. In the Interior Basin and 

 everywhere else the wild flax and other tibrous plants abounded, the 

 sack, rectangular in outline, prevailed, but in the western portions of 

 Canada east of the Rocky Mountains the prevalence of birch bark 

 occasioned a variety of solid forms. The Indians of the Interior 

 Basin also eiuplo}^ the cylinder largely. The same is true of the 

 Eskimo, of Alaska, while the Aleutian Islanders, especially in the 

 outer islands, having the flexible wild grass to work with, return to 

 the form of the bag or satchel. The cylinder and the rectangle pre- 

 vail among the Haida and Tlinkit, while the soft wallet, rectangular 

 in outline, were more common farther south. The Salish and other 

 tribes of Indians, of Columbia and Washington, diversifled in their 

 tribal and linguistic elements, produced many forms of baskets. 

 Those in touch with the Hudson's Ba}^ Company were very quick to 

 imitate the shapes of packages used b}" them. In this region, also, 

 since the boiling with hot stones was a prevalent method of cooking, 

 the basket pot, somewhat cylindrical in motive yet more in the form 

 of a truncated cone, was seen in every house. What is said about the 

 diversity of form among the Salish tribes is true all along the Pacific 

 coast of the United States. Here also is to bo found the conical 

 baskets in great abundance, since the people were partly vegetarians 

 or diggers. The carrying basket is a prominent feature in collections 

 from this area. From these simple geometric forms were developed 

 dishes, jars, ])ottles, packing cases, and so on, in unlimited numbers, 

 combining the cylinder, the cone, and the rectangle. In many of 

 these the jar-shaped necks of pottery are imitated, in which the 

 elements of the sphere and the spheroid are used. 



In giving the forms just indicated to basketry the Indian woman has 

 always in mind the elements of the beautiful as well as of the useful. 

 It is considered a reproach to violate the I'ules of bilateral symmetry or 

 proportion in form. A superficial view of a large collection of baskets 

 from any portion of America would strike the most careless observer as 

 the fruits of thoughtful and painstaking labor on {esthetic lines. These 

 forms are often said to be mere imitations of something the savage 

 woman has seen in nature or in other arts. Imitation is indeed one 

 of the elements in this problem, but it is an entire misconception of 



