ABORIGINAL AMERICAN BASKETRY. 469 



two others. Besides these, tlie root is sometimes used ])y certain 

 squaws of the Mewah tribe living" nortli of the Fresno and by the 

 PakanepuU and Newooah tribes living- south of the Kern; l)ut among 

 these its use is exceptional. 



Another material which has proved a stuml)ling-])lo<'k to collectors 

 is the red of the design in the handsome baskets made by the Kern 

 Valley, Newooah, and Panamint Shoshone Indians. This material is 

 often called cactus root. It is the unpeeled root of the tree yucca 

 {Yucca arh(t)-ei<ce}ii<), which grows in the hig-her parts of the Mohave 

 Desert, pushes over Walker Pass, and reaches down into the upper 

 part of the valley of South Fork of Kern. The so-called Tejon Indians 

 ol»tain it in Antelope Vallej", at the extreme west end of the Mohave 

 Desert. The yucca root varies considerably in depth of color, so that 

 hy careful selection some of the Indian women produce beautiful 

 shaded effects and delinite pattern contrasts. 



Some of the Panamint Shoshones inhabiting the desolate desert 

 region between Owens Lake and Death Valley use, either in com))ina- 

 tion with the yucca root or independently, the l)right-red shafts of the 

 wing" and tail feathers of a woodpecker — the red-shafted flicker, 

 Colaptes caft'V coUaris. These same Indians use two widely different 

 materials for their black designs — the split seed pods of the deviPs 

 horn, Mdiiijn'ut, and the root of a marsh bulrush, Sclrjms. The Jfar- 

 tynld is a relatively coarse material, and when properly selected yields 

 a dead ])lack. The Sc!rj)us root is a flne, delicate material, which, by 

 burying in wet ashes, is made to assume several shades or tones, from 

 blackish brown to purplish black, or even lustrous. black. 



In parts of the Colorado Desert in southeastern California the Coah- 

 uilla Indians use split strands from the leaf of the desert palm {ISfeo- 

 icashhi<jt<>niajilainent(m() as a surface material for their coiled baskets. 

 The design is usually black or orange-brown, and is a rush {Juncus).^ 



The following list gives the families of the tribes in Tulare, Kern, 

 and Inyo counties, using the plants named in the first part of this 

 description: 1. Chukchan cysChukchan si (Mariposan); 2. Cocahe])as; 

 3. Mewah (Moquelumnan); 4. Newooah; 5. Nims; 6. PakanepuU; 

 7. Tulares (part of Olamentke di v., Moquelumnan); 8. Wiktchumnes, 

 Wikchumni (Mariposan); 0. Wuksaches, Wiksachi (Mariposan). 



The elements of ornamentation are lines direct and crooked, in 

 shapes as varied as the margins of leaves, and they might without 

 affectation receive the same names — dentate, serrate, sinuous, etc. 

 These simple lines are combined in i^arallels, herring-bone, chevrons, 

 crenellations, and many more patterns. The triangle, the rectangle, 

 the rhomb, and the pol3^gon are used in great variety. Out of these 

 elements the designs on this basketry are separate, concentric, or 

 radiate. 



«C. Hart Merriam, Science, May 23, 1903. 



