468 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1902. 



tory. The western portioi belong-s to the following- linguistic families: 

 Moquelumnan, Costanoan, Mariposan, Esselenan, Salinan, and Chu- 

 mashan. Along the median line of this subarea are Mono, Fresno, 

 Inj'o, Tulare, and Kern counties — another basketry Caucasus or Babel. 

 (See tig. 1<)3.) 



Those who have made collections from this part of California will 

 bear witness that the exchanging of baskets and of women who make 

 baskets from stock to stock has rendered it almost impossible to 

 identify forms ethnically. Here Itlood and speech and industry are 

 apt to be confounded. At least, it is too early in the investigation to 

 be positive on the subject. 



Another tlifhculty arises in this studv from the fact that language 

 groups, tribal names, and county names are also mixed up. For in- 

 stance, a basket may be called Tuhire })ecause it was purchased in that 

 county of California, having no reference to the Indian tribe. A 

 specimen made by the same woman Avill bear the name of the tribe of 

 which she is a member. Still another one of her productions might 

 be called from the g-roup of languages to which her own belongs. At 

 present the confusion extends ])eyond form and design to the sub- 

 stances and technical processes. The author acknowledges his obliga- 

 tions to E. L. McLeod, of Bakersfield; C. P. Wilcomb, of Golden 

 Gate Park ^Museum, and Dr. C. Hart Merriam, of Washington, for 

 the information here given. Each of these has given most careful 

 study to this cosmopolitan basket region. Dr. Merriam has devoted 

 special attention to the plants used." 



Of this war(> Dr. Merriam says that most of the coiled baskets made 

 by the Indians inhabiting the lower slopes of the Sierra from Fresno 

 River south to the Kern are celebrated for excellence of workmanship, 

 beauty of form, elegance of desig'n, and richness of material, which 

 ditfers in tone and texture from that used by the tribes north and 

 south of the region indicated. When fresh, its color is brownish buff; 

 with age it becomes darker and richer. By careful selection a hand- 

 some dappled effe(^t is produced. It is made from the root of a marsh 

 plant which the Indians traveled long distances to procure, identified 

 by Miss Alice Eastwood, botanist of the California Academy of Sci- 

 ences, as Cladmvi riumscvs. The foundation consists of a l)undle of 

 stems of a yellow grass, Eplcampes 7'igens. The black in the design 

 is the root of the ''•l)racken" or "brake fern," Pterklium aquilmum. 

 The red is usually split l)ranches of the red])ud, Cercis occidentalism 

 with the bark on, gathered after the fall rains, when the bark is red. 

 The tribes making the CJadluin baskets are the Nims, Chukchancys, 

 Cocahebas, Wuksaches, Wiktchumnes, Tulares, and perhaps one or 



« It is too early to complete a plant synonymy for the Inyo-Kern and Tulare bas- 

 ketry. The Hst of Coville (pp. 199-214 of this paper) and the follov/ing i>aragraphs 

 from Merriam will be helpful. 



