PLATE XXX. 



(Masou. Basket-work.) 



Fig. 56. Coiled basket bowl, made by Yokuts Indiaus, and here introduced for com- 

 parison with Apache work. This is by far the most elaborate piece of 

 basketry in the National Museum. The bottom is plain and flat, bounded 

 by a black line. The body color is that of pine root long exposed; the 

 ornaments are in black, straw color, and brown. To understand this 

 complex figure we must begin at the bottom, where 5 barred parallelo- 

 grams surround the black ring, with center of brown, and generally four 

 smaller bars of white and black alternating. By a series of steps or gra- 

 dines this rectangular ornament is carried up to the dark line just below 

 the rim. The spaces iu the body color, at first plain, are occupied after- 

 wards by open crosses, and finally by human figures. These human fig- 

 ures are excellent illustrations of the constraining and restraining power 

 of material and environment in human achievement. There are 8 coils 

 and 18 stitches to the inch. Figure, a truncated cone; width, 16| inches ; 

 depth, 7i inches. Collected iu California, by Stephen Powers, iu 1875. 



