ABORIGINAL AMERICAN BASKETRY. 401 



notal)lo feature of this piece is the union of two funduinentully dificrent 

 methods of manufacture, the twined and the coiled. 



Its heio-ht is -if |^ inches, and it was collected by E. W. Nelson. 



Catalooue No. 86100, U. S. National Museum, is a coiled basket jar 

 of the Eskimo on the Lower Yukon. The bottom is a piece of seal- 

 skin 8 inches in diameter. The coiled work on this specimen is 

 unique. A grass foundation is held together by half hitches or button- 

 hole stitches in the same close together. There arc IG rows. The 

 stitches pass over the foundation, lock with the stitches underneath, 

 and in returning make a turn a])out the standing part. The technic 

 is not half hitch, but, if the foundation were pulled out, would resemble 

 the twisted coils in the Mackenzie River game bags, nmskemoots 

 (Plate 12l>),or the woriv on the textile from Hoi)ewell mound, Ohio. 

 (Sec tig. 116). 



Catalogue No. 153686 in the National Museum is a coiled basket jar 

 of the tril)es. on the Lower Yukon, Alaska. The foundation is a flat 

 piece of hardwood, v^arying in width, overlaid by a small splint, which 

 gives an uneven line on the outside. The sewing is done with strips 

 of willow rods without l)ark. The stitches pass over l)oth stri])s of 

 the foundation and are caught between the two strips of the foundation 

 coil imderneath. This is the onlj^ specimen of its kind in the Museum 

 from Alaska. The use of a l)road foundation gives a tiat ap])earancc 

 to the surface, something like that of the Mescalero baskcti'y in 

 Arizona. A handle is attached, the technic being the same as that of 

 the basket. It is probably of Indian manufacture. Its height is 

 about Irf inches, and it was collected ])v J. Henry Turner. 



Catalogue No. 1S7182 in the National Museum is a coiled basket 

 jar of the Eskimo, Togiak River, emptying into Bristol Bay, Alaska. 

 The foundation is a piece of sealskin. The rows of the basket mv. 

 built up b}' coiled work, with straw for foundation and sewing. The 

 peculiar characteristic" is the neat and regular manner in which the 

 stitches, in passing outward, split the underlying stitch of the previous 

 coil. On the surface these stitches pass from top to bottom in regular 

 vertical lines, resembling feather stitch. The upper margin is orna- 

 mented with a row of birds' feet. Its height is '2i inches, and the 

 specimen was collected l)y I. Applegate. 



Catalogue No. 127183, U. S. National Museum, is a coiled l»asket jar 

 of the P]skimo on Togiak River. A rude ornamentation is attempted 

 on the surface near the top by overla3'ing the foundation with a l)and 

 of brown material underneath the stitches. Much will be said about 

 this device of overlaying among Indian tribes farther south. 



«See Report U. S. National Museum, 1884, pi. iv, showing furcated stitcher. 

 NAT MUS 1902 26 



