ABORIGINAL AMERICAN BASKETRY. 873 



though ono wore exaniinino- the sui'facc of the original vessels/' On 

 the surfaces of rocks the paleo-botanist discovers the delicate impres- 

 sions of leaves. In these indelible lines he reads the names of species 

 of trees that grew millenniums ago. So, through these impressions 

 on potsherds the archeologist is able to discover lost arts of whose 

 existence all other evidence has perished. (See Plate 107.) 



Ail along our northern frontier and in many parts of Canada the 

 Ir()([uois and Chippewa now fabricate baskets from the ash, hircli, 

 linden, and other white woods and the vernal or sweet grass (AV//v/.s-- 

 tiind ()(l<>rat<(). The method of manufacture is universally the same; 

 it is the plainest in-!ind-out checker and wicker weaving. (See Plates 

 117 and 121). The basketry is far from monotonous, however, for the 

 greatest variety is secured by ditl'erence of form, of color, of the 

 relative size of the parts, and of ornamentation. In form the baskets 

 run the whole gamut as among the Haida and Makah, guided by the 

 maker's fancy and the demands of trade. These Indians all live on the 

 border of civilization and derive a large revenue from the sale of their 

 wares. The colors are of native manufacture — red, yellow, blue, 

 green, alternating with the natural color of the wood. To ])eg'in with 

 the rudest, let us take a dozen or sixteen strips of paper half an inch 

 wide and cross them so as to have one-half perpendicular to the other 

 half, woven in checker at the center and extendingf to form the equal 

 arms of a cross. Bend up these arms perpendicular with the woven 

 checker and pass a continuous splint similar to the framework round 

 and round in a continuous coil from the l)ottom to the top. Fit a 

 hoop of wood to the top, bend down the upright sjilints over this, and 

 sew the whole together with a whipping of splint, and you will have 

 the type l)asket. (See tig's. !♦ and lo on Plate 11^».) Now, by varying 

 the width of the splint used to cover the sides a g-reat difference of 

 appearance is secured. The complete operation among the Menomi- 

 nees was studied out by W. J. llotiman," and will l)e seen in tigs. 

 110 to 114. In the National Museum are baskets made of uniforiuly 

 cut splints not over one-sixteenth of an inch in width. 



Finally, the Algonkin, as well as the Southerji Indians, have learned 

 to decorate baskets with a great variet}^ of rolls, looking- much like 

 the napkins on the table of a hotel. The weaver draws a splint under 

 the warp stick, gives it a turn up and down, or two turns in ditferent 

 directions, and draws the loose end tig-htly under the next warp stick 

 but one. This operation is repeated, forming around the basket one 

 or more rows of projecting- ornaments. Morgan bears testimony to 

 the skill of the Iroquois women in the art.'' 



The basket woman at her work sits upon the ground in front of her 

 lodge, or frequently of a little booth or shelter — the tirst step in the 



« Fourteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1896, p. 260. 

 ^'The League of the Iroquois, 1851, pj). vi-55. 



