8 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 98 



one in the left hand, and a willow woven fan in the right [the seed 

 beater], they walk among the grasses, and sweep the seed into the 

 smaller basket, which is emptied, now and then, into the larger, until 

 it is full of seeds and chaff ..." Conical baskets, similarly used 

 throughout the Intermontane area, were of vital importance in native 

 economy. 



All the specimens illustrated in the photographs are twined with 

 the exception of the Kaibab specimens, plate 11. Whether they were 

 tightly or loosely woven depended upon the size of the seed to be 

 gathered. Open-twine baskets, having a slight space between the 

 weft elements, were more quickly made than those which were tightly 

 woven and were equally serviceable for holding large seeds such as 

 pinyon nuts. 



The photographs show a Moapa Paiute open-twine basket (pi. 1, c), 

 a Kaibab basket in the process of manufacture (pi. 9, a), several 

 close-twine Kaibab specimens (the edge showing in pi. 13, a; two in 

 the foreground of pi. 13, b ; two specimens being carried in pi. 16, b), 

 and a St. George open-twine specimen (pi. 20, a). 



Seed beater. — Only one example of a seed beater is illustrated. It 

 is the Kaibab specimen, shown on the house in plate 9, a. It is open- 

 twine and has the service edge reinforced with a wooden rim. 



Winnowing or parching trays. — As most of the seeds available in 

 Southern Paiute territory are small and hard-shelled, a special tech- 

 nique was required to separate the seeds from the chaff and, after 

 the seeds were ground, to remove the coarse particles. For this pur- 

 pose, a flat fan-shaped or circular tray was constructed. But it also 

 served another purpose. Having little pottery in which to boil seeds 

 and no doubt finding it too difficult to boil them in water in tight 

 baskets into which hot rocks were dropped, they generally roasted 

 them. Powell 6 observed, "they put the seeds, with a quantity of red 

 hot coals, into a willow tray, and, by rapidly and dexterously shaking 

 and tossing them, keep the coals aglow, and the seeds and tray from 

 burning. As if by magic, so skilled are the crones in this work, they 

 roll the seeds to one side of the tray, as they are roasted, and the 

 coals to the other." 



Three specimens of twined winnowing or parching trays are illus- 

 trated. Whereas such trays are usually fan-shaped among Shoshoni 

 and Northern Paiute, one of the Kaibab specimens (pi. 16, b) is 

 circular. The shape of the other, which was placed so as to catch the 

 meal ground on a metate (pi. 13, a), cannot be ascertained. It appears 

 to be fan-shaped. 



" Op. cit., p. 127. 



