ABORIGINAL AMERICAN BASKETRY. 315 



of weaving and sewing. It will be found, therefore, that her tempta- 

 tions are to pass more quickly to the sym])olic stage of representa- 

 tion. It is well to remember also that just as on the baskets themselves 

 the symbolism, starting with pictures, has in some tribes been reduced 

 to its lowest terms, so in the basket maker's mouth the legendw have 

 ])ecome faded into concrete words and then into meaningless terms, 

 yet the thought is there. Of a certain form on a basket plaque the 

 Hopi woman would say it is the bird that carries messages to the 

 rain god; another tribe would call it a bird; a third name it wings, 

 and finally it becomes an empty geometric design. Again, the student 

 himself passes through a process of initiations as the subject is 

 exploited. 



It is said that Pompey declared, when he had drawn aside the veil 

 of the Holy of Holies, at Jerusalem, "The Jews worship nothing." 

 With some such feeling the collector of baskets begins his quest. The 

 first impression is that no set patterns were in the maker's mind. She 

 has a sense of the beautiful and loves to give her fancy free rein. 

 Indeed, the reticent and suspicious basket maker helps the delusion. 

 A little later the discovery is made that the patterns stand for things, 

 Init still for general notions. It is only after long familiarity and sj^s- 

 tematic converse with old basket makers that the veteran collector 

 learns that the belief that these patterns stand for mountains, lakes, 

 rivers, men and women, deer or other mammals, flying birds or bird 

 tracks, fishes, insects, flowers, plants, heavenly bodies, or articles of 

 use and worship merely is but a fraction of the truth. They are con- 

 crete, standing not for all or any, ])ut for one, and underneath them is 

 charming folklore. Mrs. Shackleford tells of a certain intricate pat- 

 tern on a Washington basket that it represents ripples, but on patient 

 inquiry it was found to mean the subtle movements in the under waters 

 of a certain lake upon a special occasion. To appreciate symbolism 

 fully one must know the sign, hear the story, and then study the 

 skies, the landscape, and the social environment. 



To attempt to discover an alphabet in this primitive art would be 

 useless, for each trilie adapts old and new standard forms to its own 

 concept myths. T'he artists alone, in every case, can interpret them. 

 This existence of concrete stories in art form is not confined to bas- 

 ketry. Dr. Boas is authority for saying that the intricate totem post 

 and composite painting of the North Pacific coast can be interpreted 

 only by the carver. The attempt to find a clue to the mystery of 

 their composition is hopeless, for none exists. As soon as the perfec- 

 tion of monotony or uniformity has been reached in the technic to 

 form the basis of real art, there ensues a variety no less thorough and 

 diversified in the ornamentation for sym])olizing the same idea. The 

 rule in the Indian woman's mind seems to be reduced to a fornuila like 

 this: "The minimum of variety in the technic, the maximum of variety 



