ABORIGINAL AMERICAN BASKETRY. 337 



adapts itself to the wouuurs life. It is not oas}^ to pin an}" spocial 

 structure upon a delinite tril)e, liowever, since women were captured 

 or ran away nia^'hap into other tribes. A quiet S3'steni of pedagogy 

 was going on all the time in basl^etr}', as well as in other activities. 

 The uses of ])asketry will be given in further detail, the topics arranged 

 in alphal)etic order. 



An interesting phase of the struggle between use and beauty is to 

 be seen in the compromises which d\ey make for space on the same 

 basket. The jewel, the cremation chef d'oeuvre, the precious gift to 

 a friend, may be covered with designs, have the most beautiful on the 

 bottom, or where the makei'\s fancy led her. On the other hand, the 

 piece for common uses is a despair of the artist; it is bereft of orna- 

 ment. Among the Tlinkit of southeastern Alaska, while the covered 

 trinket baskets are decorated to the ground, the cylindrical food 

 baskets are plain near the bottom, and in many examples half the way 

 up the body. This compromise in decoration is more apparent in the 

 heav}' coiled work of the British Columbia tribes. Boxes for show, 

 cradles, and such examples are surrendei'ed to the decorator, while the 

 berry baskets and cooking pots have their decorations chiefly on the 

 upper portion of the body. This fact limits the motives in the design. 

 On old pieces it is melancholy to see how the hard wear of years litis 

 invaded the sacred precincts of art and destroyed even the symbols of 

 religion. On the California basketry art was predominant. The 

 spirals descend nearly to the l)ottoms of the mush l)owls and the 

 carrying baskets, but a glance reveals at the point of strain a patch 

 of ordinarj" strong weaving or a protective covering. 



As i)reviousl_y mentioned, baskets are receptacles of some kind or 

 other. They do not of themselves usually perform work, but are 

 used for holding tlie materials and apparatus of work. The art of 

 basketry, however — that is, the plication or working of somewhat 

 rigid materials — easily passed out of the mere making of receptacles 

 into the construction of all sorts of objects needed in dailv life. 



The uses of basketry are either industrial or ideal. Industrially, 

 they are connected lirst with the whole range of ol)taining food or 

 nourishment and the other natural materials upon which all history 

 depends. 



With the secondary industries, called manufactures, with trans- 

 portation, and with consimiption or enjoyment, one has but to take a 

 stroll along the crowded dock, as in a great seaport, or the Ijusy ware- 

 house of any modern city, to become familiar with the inlinite number 

 of ways in which the basket lends its services to the comfort of the 

 human race. 



All of these functions, so intricate and diversified in civilization, are 

 represented in savagery by much more simple occupations, from 

 which, however, the basket is never absent. 

 NAT MUS 1902 22 



