462 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1902. 



Fig. 170. 

 detail of fig 



Plate IT-i represents two Klamath Indian baskets in the collection 

 of Dr. C. Hart Merriam. The interesting feature in them is that the 

 entire structure is in three-strand twined work. The border reseml)les 

 closely one of the simplest among- the Tlinkits, namely, the warp 

 strands are turned down and held in place by a row of twined weaving. 

 All the Indians of this area practice the three-strand work, but do 



not cover the whole basket with it. 

 This weave is reserved for strength- 

 ening weak places and for ornament. 

 It has the disadvantage of being 

 wasteful of material. 



South of the Klamath and Modoc 

 tribes and closely associated with 

 them live the Shasta Indians (Sastean 

 family, formerly on the Klamath 

 River from Bogus Creek to Scott 

 River; on the Shasta River, Little 

 Shasta and Yuka Creek; and in Scott 

 Valley, to which has been added the 

 LTpper Salmon and a part of Rogue 

 River in Oregon). Stephen Powers 

 commends the strength and beauty of the Shasta women. With their 

 basket hats fitting tight on their round heads and walking with a 

 grenadier stride, they present quite an Amazonian appearance." The 

 specimens of Shasta Indian baskets in the U. S. National Museum are 

 not to be distinguished fundamentally from those just described. 

 They are in twined weaving with overlaying in straw. Their special 

 marks are in the designs or symbols.* 



Plate 175, top figure, represents a twined basket of the Pit River 

 Indians, Copehan family, in Shasta Count}^ California. In Dixon's 

 paper precisely the same symbols are seen on a basket labeled Yanan 

 (Plate 25). The warp and weft on the bottom are of some kind of rush. 

 The weft on the body is in stems of the squaw grass. There are 

 twelve twists and twenty rows of twined weaving to the inch. The 

 color of the bod}^ is a beautiful old gold produced l)}- age. The orna- 

 mentation is in three sets of three rhombs, each done in black material, 

 perhaps fern stems. Crosses and diamond patterns are employed to 



"Powers, Contributions to North American Ethnologj', III, Chai). XXVI. 



^Shastas, Rogue Rivers, and Calapooya tribes on Grand Ronde and Siletz Res- 

 ervations, Oregon, make excellent openwork twined baskets from hazel ( Corylus 

 califomica) sticks cut in May, peeled. Those cut in autumn are toasted, then soaked 

 and peeled. Charming effects are jiroduced in the seasoning of the wood. Rarely 

 stems dyed black by soaking them in mud are used in weaving. Besides the old- 

 time plaques, baby frames, and conical burden baskets, the latest willow ware is 

 being freely imitated in hazel for all domestic and industrial uses. — Mks. Hakriet 

 McAktuur, 



