AHORiciiNAL amp:rican uasketky. ^83 



the underlying plan to suppose that the .skillful weaver is a slave to 

 natural patterns. Indeed, it might also be averred that she is less 

 subservient to such things than artisans of much higher grade. On 

 entering the workshops of civilization one sees the walls loaded with 

 designs and models after which to work, but rarely would the observer 

 see an Indian woman looking to any other source than her own 

 imagination for the model of her basket; strictl}' speaking, she never 

 makes two alike. A close observation of the wea\er at her work 

 demonstrates the fact that the eye, the hand, the curves of the body, 

 the angles of the lower limbs, all contribute their share to giving 

 beautiful forms to basketry. The following illustrations will show 

 the gradaticjns of general outline through which l)asketry passes, the 

 maker keeping always in mind the sense of pleasure to be awakened 

 or gratified. 



They are as follows: a^ flat forms; h^ dish forms; c, bowl forms; 

 d, jar forms; and e, miscellaneous forms. 



{(() The simplest of these is the flat tray, mat, wallet, sail, gambling 

 plaque, and more. They assume endless varieties of outline, and 

 through the stimulus of trade all sorts of shapes result, table mats of 

 standard patterns in 8itka and Vancouver Island, rectangular wallets 

 in Washington, Idaho, and Montana, Init especially the gambling 

 plaques of California. 



Plate 38 shows two flat plaques of this form, the upper one from 

 the Tule River country, Tulare County, California, the lower one 

 from Madera County, both in the collection of E. L. McLeod, of 

 Bakerstield, California. The coiling, if well done, would produce the 

 circular outline. The Indian woman who constructed the plaque 

 made the stitches under the spell of this art motive. A number of 

 additional (examples of artistic forms in flat basketry will be found in 

 Plates 6 and 01. « 



(h) Use cooperates with beauty in deepening the basket into a shal- 

 low plate as among the Hopi (Moki) for the sacred meal in their pra}' er 

 ceremonials, but more attractive still are the so-called Navaho cere- 

 monial baskets. (See Plate 39)- These beautiful o])jects have attracted 

 much attention also through their association with Navaho ceremonies. 

 They are called ghost drums, wedding baskets, and various other 

 names, all associated with the Navaho religion. Tlie dish baskets shown 

 in the plate are in the collection of Fred Harvey. The same form 

 exists along the Pacific States wherever meal or other vegetal diet is 

 eaten. The}' are the common dish in which the mush is served 

 throughout the acorn-bearing parts of California. It is an excellent 

 example of adaptation to use, consistent at the same time with correct 

 aesthetic expression. Doing her best in producing the proper form 



« W. H. Holmes, Report of the U. S. National Museum, 1900, pi. xli. 



