298 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1902. 



surface of the basket has a tessellated or mosaic appearance. These 

 figures also ma}" be oriented with reference to the borders, but the 

 patterns become oblique, and more pleasing diaper effects are caused 

 when the figures are not oriented with reference to the horizon or 

 border. Plate 53 shows a number of beautiful bowls in the collec- 

 tion of C. P. Wilcomb from Kern, Inyo, and Tulare counties, Cali- 

 fornia. They are introduced here for the purpose of showing how, 

 on many of them, diamond-shaped patterns have been worked into 

 basketry with excellent effect. Associated with these geometric form 

 pol3"gons are also the elements of cycloids, covering almost the entire 

 surface, liadiating from the bottom, triangular spokes proceed to the 

 outer margin and these are decorated with diamond patterns and 

 irregular polygons. The human form and other tj^pical patterns are 

 united with those now under consideration. The majority of the 

 decoration, however, is in the simple elementary geometric shape 

 here considered. 



{d) Triangles. — On the surface of basketry the triangle, as an element 

 of design in mosaic, does not occur in the single stitch or check, but it 

 is found in open-work basketry, as among the Aleuts, where the warp 

 is bent backward and forward or crossed. By the combination of 

 elementary parts triangular effects in great variety are obtained. In 

 this technic a triangle is not a three-sided figure with straight outline, 

 but a pyramid made by piling up rectangles, vertical or radial in 

 coiled basketry, horizontal or concentric in woven basketry. The 

 base of the triangle may be straight but the sides are notched and 

 stepped as in the bead work. 



A great many symbolical designs of arrowheads, mountains, and 

 other artificial and natural objects which suggest the three-sided form 

 are produced on both coiled and woven basketry, the base of the tri- 

 angle being at the top, at the bottom, or on either side of the figure. 

 The conical or the globular basket lends itself most cheerfully to this 

 element in design. On cylindrical, and especially on vertical vasi- 

 formed basketry, for ornamental effects the triangle easil}^ passes into 

 curved figures of infinite variet3^ After the foundation of the figure 

 is laid on a certain round of weaving or coiling it is possible on the 

 next round to widen or narrow above either end of this line. In some 

 examples a sweeping cycloid beginning at the base, narrows and curves 

 to the right or left, terminating with the outer border. The Filipino 

 hat makers are exceedingly fond of creating a series of these triangle 

 cycloids in different colors, some of them turning to the right, others 

 to the left. The Oalifornia basket maker also produces flame-like 

 effects with elongated triangles. There seems to be no end to the 

 versatility of this figure on globular basketry. 



Plate 54 represents two of the Tulare bowls in the collection of 

 F. S. Plimpton. The upper figure, especially, shows in its bands of 



