214 REPOET OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1901. 



The parts were sewed with baleen and made water-tight by means 

 of gum. 



It is the design of the sixth exhibit to show the types of basketry 

 for the whole American continent. The series begins in the upper 

 left-hand corner of the case with the coiled basket of the Eskimo; then 

 follow Tinne basketry, from interior Alaska; bark work, from Canada: 

 cane work, from the Gulf States; twined work, from southeastern 

 Alaska; checker, diagonal, twined, and coiled work, from the Pacific 

 States of the Union; coiled and diagonal work, from Mexico; wicker 

 work, from Central America; diagonal work, from Guiana; and coiled 

 work, from Magellan Straits. The species of plants used, and the 

 annual rainfall, which determines the toughness and pliability of the 

 material, govern largely the technic and the quality of basketry in the 

 several culture regions. 



Exhibit No. 7 (Plate 52) is designed to show the chief types of 

 textile fabrics in various culture regions of the two Americas. The 

 general term weaving is sometimes applied also to basketry and mat 

 ting, but here the material is first made into yarn or twine by primi- 

 tive modes of spinning, either in the fingers, on the thigh, or with a 

 spindle. The frames on which the weaving was done range in com- 

 plexity from a mere bar or yarn beam, over which the warp was hung, 

 to a rude loom in which harness was employed to shift the warp. 

 Theie were also battens with which to force home the weft. In the 

 Central American and Peruvian weaving an additional shifting of 

 warp w T as effected by simple mechanical devices. The llama furnished 

 one of the finest staples in the world, and the delicate spindles found 

 in ancient graves of Peruvian women show that the art of working in 

 the wool of this animal had been highly developed. 



The specimens shown in group 8 (Plate 53) are t} r pe forms of the 

 pottery of the aborigines. This art flourished among the more cul- 

 tured, .sedentary tribes and was unknown, or but crudely practiced, 

 in the far north and south, and where nomadic life was the rule. The 

 mound- building people of the Mississippi Valley, and various tribes 

 in the southern States farther east, were skilful potters, fashioning 

 varied and artistic forms and excelling in the simpler modes of decora- 

 tion. The Pueblo peoples of the arid Southwest were, and still are, 

 expert potters, but the art was carried to its highest stage by the 

 more cultured nations of Mexico, Central and South America, Pot- 

 tery was manufactured mainly for domestic uses, but ceremonial pur- 

 poses were also subserved. The strong native love of symbolism led 

 to most varied and elaborate utilization of life forms, both in model- 

 ing and in surface decoration. The* wheel as a means of throwing 

 forms was unknown, and the art of glazing had not been discovered. 



The ninth exhibit (Plate 54) shows in brief how far the aboriginal 

 tribes of the Western Hemisphere had progressed in sculpture, or 



