ABORIGINAL AMERICAN BASKETRY, 



889 



Th(> Cherokee make th(^ liandsoniost cloth(>8 l)!i8kets, eonsiderino- 

 their inateriiils. 'Jli(>y divide largo swamp canes into lonii-. <hin, nai'- 

 row splinters, which they dye for several colors, and manao-e the 

 workmanship so well that both the inside and outside are covered with 

 a ))eautiful \ariety of pleasing tigures; and though for the s})ace of 2 

 inches below the upper edge of each l)asket it is worked into one, 

 through the other parts they are worked asunder, as it they were two 

 joined atop l)y some strong cement. A larg(^ nest consists of eight or 

 tiMi baskets contained one within another. Their dimensions are dif- 

 ferent, l)ut they usually mak(> the outside basket al)()ut a foot deep, 

 a foot and a half broad, and 

 almost a yard long." 



A type collection of this ware 

 was made for the National Mu- 

 seum l»y .Fames Mooney.' 



Fig. 1'2^> shows one of the 

 oldest and most l)eautiful bas- 

 kets in the National Mustnun, 

 presented by Drs. Gray and 

 Matthews, of the Army. Four 

 ])ent poles constitute the framt'- 

 work. Those at the sides are 

 10 inches apart at the top, 4 at 

 the bottom, and are (juite con- 

 cealed in the structure. The 

 end pair cross these at right 

 angles and descend G inches to 

 afford a rest for the load. The 

 carrying strap is of rawhide. 

 The weaving is in twilled work, 

 with diaper patterns made in nar- 

 row strijjs of l)ark, some having 

 their outer, some their inner 

 surface exposed. 



The weaving was done by an 

 Arikara woman in Dakota. 

 Now, these Indians ar*^ not Sioux, but belong to the Caddoan family 

 spread over Louisiana and Texas. It should not be surprising, there- 

 fore, to tind baskets similar to those of the Cherokees and the Gulf 

 tribes in their hands. 



In close connection with wickerwork and checkerwork is twilled or 

 diagonal technic from many localities, especially in the South. An inter- 

 esting example is illustrated by Holmes,'' the two elements, the warp 



"James Adair, History of the American Indians, London, 1775, p. 424. 

 f^ Nineteenth Annnal Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1900, jt. 176. 

 cThird Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1884, p. 416, iig. 98. 



Fig. 1125. 

 twii.i.el) h.\sket. 

 Arikiira Indians. 

 Cat. Xu. SJ.^IO, r.S.N.M. CdUecti-d b.v (i 



