534 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1902. 



v 



The specimen here shown is in the colleotion of Dr. S. O. Richey, 

 ot" Washington City, and has "20 or more c'rossinj»"s to the linear 

 inch. The hats vary from the ordinary form ha\'ino- IS crossings or 

 checks to the finest quality, which have twice as many. In the market 

 they are sold at from $10 to $15<». The most costly specimens are 

 those in which there is not a break in the straw, mismatched color, or 

 a knot showing- in the work. 



During the nineteenth century the cemeteries of Peru yielded the 

 greatest abundance of relics and remains. Among the former were a 

 mixed variety of textiles, which were types of basketr}' hereafter to be 

 described. The climate of Peru is arid and almost a desert like that 

 of Arizona or Eg} pt. The frail products of the textile industry that 

 might have perished utterly in North America almost ever3'where 

 have here all been preserved. Fine specimens of old Peruvian work 

 are to be seen in all the leading museums of the world. The Field 

 Columbian in Chicago is especiall}' rich in productions of this kind, 

 gathered through the agency of the Woi'kFs Columbian Exposition 

 in 1893. 



In the Peabody Museum and in the U. S. National Museum also are 

 fine old collections brought home fifty years ago by earlier travelers 

 and explorers in South America, and in this Peruvian basketware are 

 to be seen not only great varieties in form and exhaustive treatment 

 of native technical processes but adaptations to uses without number 

 extending literally from the cradle to the grave. 



The name Peru has for the ethnologist a long perspective in time, 

 reaching through mau}^ centuries; in elevation it covers the range of 

 ha])ital)le areas from reeking seacoasts to heights barely endura])le by 

 man. In coast line it stretches through 15 degrees of south latitude 

 (5° to 20' ). Only hi width is it restricted to the narrow watershed of 

 the Andes and a slight portion of the incline on the eastern side, 

 reaching down to the forest line. The most celebrated of the explora- 

 tions in this area have been by Reiss, Stiiljel, and Koppel." 



These authors figure the following-named types of hask{^try: 



1. Checkerwork: In this connection should be noted a kind of open- 

 work in which the warps are set at an angle of -15 degrees, running in 

 two directions, forming diamond-shapcxl spaces. A weft passes around 

 among these warps so as to divide the diamond-shaped spaces into tri- 

 angles. Such weaving is seen in many specimens of the North Pacific 

 area; even the Aleutian islanders practice it. It has been alreadj" 

 described and figured in von d(Mi Steinen's plat<\s for the eastern area. 



2. Wickerwork, in Colombia and Uruguay. 



3. Diagonal or twilled work, widel}" diffused. 



4. Twined work has been recovered from prehistoric graves at 

 Ancon, Peru, in matting, both coarse and fine, and on baskets; from 



" Kultur and liulustrie Siidainerikanischer Vrdker, lierliu, 1889. 



