ABORIGINAL AMERICAN BASKETRY. 



375 



itself to chiinning etfects of lig'ht and shade that there is not a monot- 

 onous s([uare incli on the surface. Another band of plain wearino- is 

 followed by zigzag and angular work, inelosing lines and s<[uares, 

 giving birth to a very pleasing eti'eet. Some of the oldest ])ietures 

 preserved in the early chronicles of the Algonkin Indians, to whom 

 the Chippewa belong, show them weaving in exactly the same fashion. 



The mat described above was made for Capt, K. D. GaiUard, 

 U. S. A., in a single day, tiie work beginning at 9 o'clock in the morn- 

 ing and the finished product being delivered '2 miles away at 4 o'clock 

 in the afternoon. It is (> feet 5 inches long and -i feet 5 inches wide. 



The Menomini Indians of the Algonquian family, li\'ing in northern 

 Wisconsin, are quite expert in various forms of ))asket work and hand 

 weaving. Mats are woven from the leaves of rushes, ilags or cat- 

 tails, and cedar ])ark. They are for rooting' temporary structures, 

 such as medicine lodges, for partitions, tloor mats and wrappings, and 

 for various ])urposes in the canoes. The leaves and stems are strung 



Fig. 110. 



ash log for m.\k1ng .splint.s. 



Menomini Indians. 



After W. .1. Hdflniaii. 



together by means of threads made of l)asswood fiber. In this they 

 imitate a kind of textile well distributed throughout North Amei'ica 

 formerly. 



The mats shown on Plates 21, 22, and 23 of Dr. Walter J. Hoff- 

 mann's paper" on this tribe are made from the inner bark of the cedar, 

 cut in strips averaging- one-half inch in width, in mixed, twilled, and 

 checker weaving, which, cond^ined with the native coloi- of the material 

 and dyed strips, produce the greatest \'ariety of diaper patterns. They 

 do not differ essentially from Captain (Jaillard's mat just described. 



The baskets of the Menominees resemble those of the eastern Cana- 

 dian Indians. A log of elm wood is beaten until the space l)etween 

 the annual layers of growth is destroyed; the thin strips are then 

 pulled off, cut to a luiiform width, and scraped as smooth as possible. 

 At present gauges of steel are used for the purpose. The weaving is 

 done in checker, twilled, and wicker work. A section of the beaten 

 log, showing the annual layers loosened, the mallet of wood, and the 

 modern knife, resembling the '^ man's knife" throughout all the north- 

 ern tribes, are shown in tigs. 110 to 114. For the finer kinds of bag- 



"Fuurteentli Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1896, p. 260. 



