ABORIGINAL AMERICAN BASKP:TRY 



393 



Fig. I'iS. 



COILED WORKBASKET. 



Tinno Indians. 

 Collected by I'. H. Kay. 



It is said to have come from Sidaru. The owner dechired that it came 

 from the (jreat River in the South, which Mr. Murdoch intery)rets to 

 mean the Kowak, flowing into Ilotham Inlet. 'Hie Eskimo are in the 

 ha))it of going to tliis place in order to trade 

 with the Indians, and thus this coiled ])asket 

 found its way into the possession of the Es- 

 kimo at Point l^arrow. This ligure is 330 on 

 page 326 in Murdoch's paper. Catalogue No. 

 89801. Height, a])Out3yV inches. Collected 

 by P. II. Ray, U. S. Army. 



Catalogue No. 89802 in the U. S. National 

 Museum is a conical workbasket, with a seal- 

 skin top for a drawing string to keep the con- 

 tents from falling out. It is in coiled weav- 

 ing over a single rod, from Sidaru, northern 

 Alaska, near Point Barrow, collected by Lieut. 

 P. H. Ray, U. S. Army. It is similar in tech- 

 nic with No. 89801. Its height is 4^ inches, 

 and it has been described by Murdoch. (See 

 fig. 128.) 



Catalogue No. 56504 in the LT. S. National 

 Museum is an Eskimo woman's workbox (Aguma, ama, ipiaru) in 

 coiled l)asketry, from Point Barrow, Alaska, also collected })y Lieu- 

 tenant Ray. The material is willow and the technic is coiled work of 



the single-rod t^^pe. The neck of the bas- 

 ket is of black tanned sealskin and is tied 

 with a string of the same material. Height, 

 If inches. It has been descril)ed ])y Mur- 

 doch. (See fig. 129.) 



Take an example from another part of 

 Alaska. Fig. 130 is a coiled basket of the 

 Tinne Indians who are settled on the Lower 

 Yukon River. The foundation is a single 

 rod of spruce root and the sewing is done 

 wdth splints of the same material. It be- 

 longs to the type of coiled work called a 

 single rod (see p. 250); the stitches inter- 

 lock with those underneath and inclose also 

 the rod of that coil. Each stitch, there- 

 fore, really incloses two foundations. In 

 the explorations of Dall, Nelson, and Turner, in this long stretch of 

 river bottom were collected man}^ specimens showing transition be- 

 tween Indian and Eskimo activities. 



On the bottom the basket maker has taken the greatest pains to split 

 the stitches of each coil with those of the coil beyond, giving to each 

 one, looked at from the center, a bifurcated appearance which is quite 



Fig. 129. 

 coiled workbasket. 



Tinne Indians. 

 Collected by V. H. Ray. 



