ABORIGINAL AMERICAN BASKETRY. 301 



\Vh(Mi it is remembered that for utilituriuu purposes merel}" not one 

 speck of this artistic coloring- is needed, and further noted that great 

 fatigue and search and critical judgment are necessar}^ in order to 

 assem])le materials for a single basket, surely no one will withhold 

 admiration from the creator of colored ornamentation in l)asketr3^ 

 One can scarcely begin to appreciate her struggles and triumphs until 

 the eti'ort is made to reproduce her results. 



Ornamentation b}" means of color is effected in basketry through 

 the following processes, already hinted at in the chapter on })asket 

 making: 



(rt) By employing materials which are of different colors by nature. 

 This has Ijeen partly described in the foregoing sections. 



(h) By the use of dyed materials. 



{(') By overlaying the w^eft and Avarp with thin strips of pretty mate- 

 rials before weaving or by wrapping strips about them in various 

 ways. 



{(I) By embroidering on the texture during the process of manufac- 

 ture, called false emln•oider3^ 



(e) By covering the texture with plaiting, called im})rication. 



(y) By adding feathers, shells, beads, and other ornamental objects. 



In the making of designs on basketry, dyeing, overlaying, false 

 em])roidery, and imbrication are merely artificial methods of repeat- 

 ing and heightening the decorative effects already- shown to be possible 

 through use of materials in their native colors. No new designs are 

 added, symbolical or otherwise. The efl'ect of new forms in elementary 

 technic has alread}^ been mentioned. But the artist ol)tains an immense 

 advantage in the num))er of colors as well as the richness of shades 

 and harmonies. After all, excepting in California, there are only a 

 few colors in tough fibers to select from in any area. If it were not 

 for pretty grasses which have brilliancy of color, but little tenacity, 

 and the bright dyes in mineral and vegetal substances which have no 

 value as textiles, the aesthetic power of basketry would be greatly 

 curtailed. There are two or three small linguistic families of Indians 

 in California that seem to have gathered unto themselves every kind 

 of ])asket decoration. As in the island of Crete the culture of the 

 ancient peoples about the eastern Mediterranean seem to ha\'e assem- 

 bled, so in the Porno and Mariposan tribes of Indians the composite 

 art reached its climax of decoration. Is it not marvelous that here 

 hundreds of years ago, perhaps, In-oke out the first ])asketry epidemic; 

 not as now resulting in a fever to ow^n them merely, but manifesting 

 itself in a passion for making them. In the chapter on uses it will be 

 seen that this passion was intimately related to the most sacred feel- 

 ings that dwelt in the soul of the maker, namely, those associated with 

 the spirit world. It is also true that the natural materials for other 

 forms of art expression were lacking or not courted. 



{a) In natural 'materials. — Color in basketry is effected, first, by the 



