480 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1!H)2. 



this as tno most beautiful specimen in liis collection. The woman was 

 three years at work on it, and it is at least 60 years old. The orna- 

 mentation consists of dis- 

 crete figures of five rec- 

 tangles, thirteen men on 

 the upper part, but chiefly 

 of seven radial patterns 

 ascending- to the mouth. 

 Each is made up of a con- 

 tinuous series of rectan- 

 gular figures touching and 

 by echelon. This pattern 

 will be seen frequently, 

 and the specimen may l)e 

 taken as a type of that 

 particular design. 



Fig. 172 is a grasshop- 

 per basket of the Wikch- 

 umni Indians (Mariposan 

 family), in a style of tech- 

 niqiu^. which may be called 

 interrupted coiled work. 

 The foundation is a small 

 bundle of stems or shreds. 

 The sewing consists in 

 wrapping the foundation 

 from five to ten tim(>s with the si)lint, and then catcliing this under 

 one or two turns of the coil below in the form of stitches, the only 

 bond which holds the fabric togetlier being these few stitches. Another 

 example of this sort of interrupted 

 work in North America is shown in 

 Plate 120, ilhistrating basketry from 

 the Eskimo of Hudson Bay. 



The existence of this type of bas- 

 ketry in a restricted area among the 

 Mariposan family raises interesting 

 questions about the cause of its oc- 

 currence here. The ornamentation 

 consists in rows, hourglass patterns, 

 and figures resembling the letters 

 of the alphabet, don(» in })rown ma- 

 terial, like cercis or fern stems. 



The detail of this interrupted work 

 is well shown in fig. 173, where the wrapj)ing is plainly iUustrated, 

 and also the methods of joining. By bringing the stitches one over 



Fig. 172. 



grasshopper basket. 



Wikchumni Indians, Californin. 



Cat. No. 2v>:,m. u.r.n.:m. 



Fig. 173. 

 detail ok fig. 172. 



