ABORIGINAL BASKET-WORK. 301 



baud. Beads are also laid on, and bits of worsted, eveu, making animal 

 forms. The most beautiful ornament is that i)roduced by feathers, one 

 being laid on for each stitch, forming an imbricated covering, conceal- 

 .ingthe entire surfa(;e. When parti colored feathers are used the effect 

 is very wonderful. 



SAHAPTIN STOCK. 



In the mountains of Idaho live the Xez Perces Indians belonging to 

 the Sahaptin stock. The Museum i)Ossesses a few samples of their 

 basketry. Figs. 38, 30, represents a Hexible wallet made of the bast of 

 Indian hemp {Apocynum cannabinum). There is nothing remarkable 

 in the manufacture of this specimen. The weaving belongs to the 

 twined type. 



The body color is the natural hue of the material. iSI'early the whole 

 surface, however, is covered with ornamentation in patterns of brown, 

 green, red, and black. This ornamental i)ortion is produced by the 

 sewing of embroidery over the entire surface of the bag, the stitches 

 passing only halfway through, so that the fabric is plain on one side 

 and ornamented on the other. 



THE GREAT INTERIOR BASIN. 



Leaving now the west coast, we may examine the basketry of the 

 Great Interior Basin, including that of the Shoshoues, the Apaches, 

 the Pueblos, and the tribes living around the mouth of the Colorado. 



iSlioshonea. — This great stock of Indians employ both structures, the 

 twined and the whipped coil. The plaited stitch is used in the conoidal 

 basket hats or mush bowls (Figs. 40, 41), the roasting trays (Fig. 42), 

 and the fanning or seed gathering trays (Fig. 43), and wands (Fig. 44). 

 The coiled and whip[)cd structure is used in the pitched water bottles 

 (Fig. 45), and the basket trays (Fig. 47). 



Conoidal basket hats are made of willow splints or Rhus, the warp 

 radiating from the ai)ex, the woof splints being carried around and 

 twined in pairs, in the manner so fre(iuently described (Fig. 40). 

 The woof is so thoroughly driven home as to give the appearance of 

 the simi»]e osier of the east. Ornamentation is produced by using one 

 or more rows of black splints, dyed with the ^Sucil(( diffusa. 



The roasting trays are shai)e(l like a scoop, rimmed with a large 

 twig (Fig. 4-). The warp is made of ])ara]lel twigs laid close together, 

 and held in i>la<'e by cross i)laitings about half an inch ai)art. It is 

 said that Shoshoues place the seeds of wild plants in these trays 

 with hot stones and thus roast them. The specimen Ijgured is nuich 

 charred on the upi)er side. Dr. Edward Palmer also describes their 

 use in fanning the hulls and e])idermis of the Finus monophylla seed. 

 " The Indians remove the hulls by putting a number of nuts on a metate 

 and rolling a Hat pestle backward and forward until the hulls are 



