AROKIGINAL AMERICAN J^ASKETKY. 313 



Falls has no more idea of putting a thought into the colors and pat- 

 terns which she weaves than though such a thing never existed. The 

 designs are changed to suit the whims of the buyers. Idealism is 

 buried in conmiercialism. Tracing the motive around the Arctic 

 region there still is found no pattern in basketry until southern Alaska 

 is reached. In the birch-bark ware of middle Alaska and Canada, and 

 in the rawhide-parfleche receptacles of the Sioux and other Plains 

 tribes, the mythical conception is reawakened. The Oiil)w^a al)Out 

 the Great Lakes preserve all sorts of ancient patterns in porcu- 

 pine-quill work on birch bark, while the Sioux, the Arapahos, and 

 Kiowas paint upon their partleche cases the totemic s3^ml)olism of 

 their tribes. '^^ It is well to keep in mind these other symbolic repre- 

 sentations in speaking- of basketr}', since they raise questions of origins 

 and relationships. Boas is inclined to refer the designs on Salishan 

 basketry to the tribes inland across the Cascade Mountains. 



The Haida Indians of Queen Charlotte Archipelago make wallets 

 and hats of spruce root, now and then weaving in a band of black, but 

 the ware is extremely plain. Its decoration depends upon the various 

 types of weaving employed and painted symbols. But the Tlinkits on 

 the mainland and islands of southeastern Alaska, on the other hand, 

 cover the surface of their baskets, made precisely similar to those of 

 the Haidas, with symbolism connected with their daily life. J.t has 

 been thought that anciently the Tlinkits made baskets like the Haida, 

 without colored ornaments, and that the designs on the baskets have no 

 ra3^thological signiiicance. The Chilcats, however, who are akin to the 

 Tlinkits and live on the mainland, cover the surface of their fringed 

 robes with their totemic symbolism in most subtle fashion. The tech- 

 nical process on these blankets is precisely the same as that on the 

 baskets, only the blankets are made in soft wool while the baskets are 

 in hard material. Coming farther southward the land of the imbri- 

 cated basket is reached. The sybolism on this, ware has been worked 

 out by Livingston Farrand.'' Further on these designs will l)e taken 

 up with greater detail. As the inscriptions on Assyrian slabs have 

 preserved the thoughts and lore of Mesopotamia and the hieroglyphics 

 of Egypt held secure for millenniums the story of the oldest of empires, 

 so in a much humbler fashion the myths and stories of these Indians 

 have been in the olden times symbolized on their basketry. There is 

 no Rosetta stone nor alphabet of design for their decipherment, all 

 the more diligent must the present seeker be to save the evanescent 

 records. The basket is frequently made for no other end than to 

 record the legend. 



«A. L. Kroeber, The Arapaho, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural 

 History, XVII, 1902, pp. 1-150. 



'' Basketry Designs of the Sahsli Indians, ^Memoirs of the American Museum of 

 Natural History, II, 1900, Pt. 5, pp. :;9:;-H99. 



