344 KEPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1902. 



flanked by two triang-les. The body color is that of the material, the 

 hourglass is black, and the triangles in reddish brown. Especial 

 attention is called to this figure. It occurs many times in the basketry 

 in the Merriam collection. It is also seen in McLeod's specimens from 

 the Kern County tribes. The symbolism is not known, nor is there 

 any attempt at imitation of natural objects in these figures, which are 

 natural size in the plate. 



Plate 90 shows the resources of the western California tribes of Men- 

 docino County for heightening the l)eauty of ordinary coiled basketr3^ 

 The abalone shell, having been ground away from the back, the nacre- 

 ous surface becomes one of the most beautiful natural objects. The 

 beadlike ornamentation aroimd the edges is the money of the tribes, 

 the feathers are the crests of the partridge, and forming the body of 

 the basket the plumage of various species of birds is sewed on in 

 bands. These o])jects, of course, have no other value than to show 

 the taste and skill of the maker, and they are chiefl}^ employed in 

 making presents to friends, who are expected to give something quite 

 as good in return. 



Emulation in aesthetic ideals and technical skill, a potent factor in 

 education and refinement, found unrestrained opportunity in basketry. 

 It is doubtful whether pottery excelled this art in the demand for 

 scrupulous care in every movement. Many of the best pieces in Cali- 

 fornia ware are marked with the monogram of the maker; and these 

 special marks are often at the bottom of a piece, as though the artist 

 with consciousness of excellence had felt the Horatian thrill when the 

 poet wrote: Suhlhni feriain sidera vertice. 



A sense of beauty in detail was the motive which led the basket 

 maker to search the fields and dig into the earth for fiber. It edu- 

 cated her mind and sharpened her judgment. In order to secure the 

 plume of the quail, the crest of the woodpecker, the shoulder tips of 

 the blackbird, the mottled feathers of the duck, and more, the woman 

 must catch her birds. So she becomes an inventor, more dangerous 

 than the owl, more skillful than the hawk, more subtle than the ser- 

 pent. At first the inventions were crude enough but effective in 

 damming the waters and barricading the air. Ministering to these 

 called forth a new grade of artificialities; culture grew by what it fed 

 upon until it is not possible to comprehend in one grasp the multitude 

 of materials, the variety of technical methods, the shapes, the designs 

 and their meanings, involved in what one forlorn woman had to master 

 in order to graduate in her art. 



Dr. Washington Matthews « figures the so-called Navaho basket 

 plaque as a drum, and says that the art of basket making is little cul- 

 tivated among them to-day, because it was neglected through the 

 development of blanket weaving. The. material is the twigs of the 



"American Anthropologist, YII, 1894, pp. 202-208. 



