538 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1902. 



Plates 245 to 247 are also specimens of coiled work exhilMted in 

 the Pan-American Exposition, witli the mummy from C'hile; the 

 foundation of the coil of shredded material and the sewing also in soft 

 splints. The stitches pass over the foundation and are not only inter- 

 locking but take up a portion of the foundation in its base belov,'. 

 These should be compared with the specimens from northern Mexico 

 in the Peabody Museum, described b}^ C. C. Willoughby. 



Plate 248 is the side and bottom view of a coiled basket from Peru. 

 The style is entirely modern, but it is introduced here to show two 

 features in technic well wrought out in the northern continent. The 

 foundation and the sewing are both in a brilliant-colored straw, species 

 unknown. Sewing is reduced to the minimum, most of the founda- 

 tion being neatly wrapped, or served with the sewing material. The 

 stitches on the body are l)if urcated most neatly, and coming one above 

 the other give the impression of herringbone work done vertically. 

 Finding this openwork coil and furcate stitches in Eskimo land, Cali- 

 fornia, and Peru would tempt one to see the same invention arising 

 independently in regions wide apart; but, omitting the unlimited 

 going about in pre-Columbian times, during hundreds of years the 

 sovereigns of Spain, France, England, and for a century Russia mixed 

 the native tribes and their industries. Catalogue No, 150844, U. S. 

 National Museum, 



The two areas of South America, eastern and western, unite in the 

 Straits of Magellan, There are three linguistic families of Indians, 

 among whom two types of basketr}^ are found belonging to the coiled 

 variety. They are made l)y women of J\inei(s inayeJIanieus. Descrip- 

 tions and figures of the stitches involved will lie found in the RcA^ue 

 d'Ethnographie," See also Lovisto,'' The rim is made of wood veya 

 or tshelia. The specimens in the U, S, National Museum are all of one 

 variety, the sewing ])eing in the buttonhole stitch, so called, and in 

 openwork. Nothing of the kind exists in the neighborhood, so that 

 it is within the limits of possibilit}^ that the style of technic was 

 introduced. 



In sunnning up what has been said on l)askctry in the Western 

 Hemisphere it would seem that all the types and processes known 

 throughout the world are to be s(H>n here, 



VIII. COLLECTORS AND COLLECTIONS 



As David and the Sibyl say— Thomas of Cei-ano. 



Basketry and pottery are the Sibylline leaves on which are written 

 the thoughts and lore of our Indians, Alread}^ much has gone bej^ond 

 recovery; it is for this reason that a good word is here spoken for 

 those lovers of art who have spent time and means in redeeming the 



"Paris, IV, p. 517. ^Guida Cora's Cosmos, October, 1884, pi, v. 



