ABOKIGINAL AMERICAN BASKETRY. 391 



and round. (See p. 241.) Only one family of Indians on the whole 

 Western Hemisphere at present eniplo}^ this technie, the Yunian, of 

 Arizona. (Fig'. 13; compare ti"'. 11 in the chapter on pi'oeesses.) 



It is an interesting- fact that the Andamanese, living- halfway round 

 the world, emi)loy the same method of workmanship on thiMr open tish 

 baskets. 



Fig. 12(1 is from the photograph of a specimen of ancient twilled 

 matting- from Petit Anse Island, near Vermilion Bay, coast of Loui- 

 siana, presented to the Smithsonian Institution by J. F. Cleu, in May, 

 1866. Petit Anse Island is the locality of the remarkable mine of 

 rock salt, exploited during the civil w'ar, and from which, for a con- 

 siderable time, the Southern States derived a great part of their supply 

 of this article. The salt is almost chemically pure and apparently 

 inexhaustible in quantit}^, occurring in every part of the island, which 

 is about .5,000 acres in extent, at a depth below the surface of the soil 

 of l.j or 20 feet. The fragment of matting here photographed was 

 found near the surface of the salt. No vast antiquit}" can l)e argued 

 on this account, but the specimen is without doubt very old and a relic 

 of the weavers who lived a long time before the discovery of America. 

 The material consists of the outer bark of the common Southern cane 

 {Annidinarla tecta) and has been preserved for so long a period l)oth 

 1)V its siliceous character and the strongly saline condition of the soil. 



ALASKA AND TPIK NORTH PACIFIC 



There in a charm in the name of ^^neh Indian niaterialts as spruce root, wild rye, 

 and cedar Itark, Imt tliey would be useless to us without the Indian touch. 



— ]Mary White. 



For convenience of study a lino may 1)0 drawn across the m;ip of 

 North America from Dixon Entrance noi'theastward so as to have 

 Quecji Charlotte Islands and the makers of coiled basketry that are 

 inland to the north of it. The tribes included will 1)e Athapascan, 

 Eskimauan, Koluschan. and Skittagetan. Among the two tirst named 

 twined and coiled work in many styles of weaving will be found, while 

 the two last named and their northern neighbors, the Aleuts, have 

 avoided coiled basketry altogether. In Plate 1^6 are g-athered types 

 of the peninsula of Alaska, Athapascan, Eskimo, and Aleutian, em- 

 bracing hard coil, soft coil, closed twined work, open twined work, 

 straight warp, crossed warp, and hemstitch, gathered by E. W. Nelson. 



In studying the basketry of this area the following division, accord- 

 ing to tribes aAd families, will l)e found convenient: 



1. Athapascan (interior of Alaska). 



2. Eskimo (around shore). 



3. Aleuts (Aleutian Archipelago). 

 1. Tlinkits (southeastern Alaska). 



5. Haidas (Queen Charlotte Archipelago). 



