264 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MVHELM. vol.54 



The use of fiat splints or strips gives rise to basket structures of 

 one type having several varieties in complexity, passing from checker 

 to twilled and finally to diaper as the highest expression. Generally 

 this construction produces thin, weak textures familiar in the mats 

 made by many peoples. The Hopi made mats, apa^ from ancient 

 times down to several decades ago. Formerly throughout the Pueblo 

 region it was customary to enwrap the dead in matting before burial, 

 traces of this material being found in ancient cemeteries.^ Matting is 

 common in cliff dwellings and ceremonial caves.- 



The matting hoods over fireplaces are the only survival of this 

 textile among the Hopi. The basket that most characterizes the 

 Pueblo Indians is made from strips of yucca leaf. They are usually 

 in twilled and sometimes in diaper weaving. The forms, which are 

 rarely graceful or regular owing to the roughness of the material, are 

 circular trays often large ; squarish baskets with vertical walls ; and 

 somewhat bottle-shape baskets. The splints are bent over and sewed 

 to form the edge, and frequently a wooden hoop is used to strengthen 

 the rim, a feature also of ancient baskets of this type.^ 



Neatly formed head rings or pottery jar rests, forehead bands, belt 

 weaver harness, and cradle head bows are of twilled weaving. The 

 Hopi specimens differ little from similar objects made by other 

 Pueblos. None of the Pueblos ever made lids or covers fitting over or 

 telescoping the basket receptacle, a practice rarely absent wherever 

 this style of basket weaving is pursued in other parts of America and 

 in the Eastern Hemisphere. American examples may be cited from 

 the Pimas, Mohaves, Cherokees, Choctaws, and other southern tribes, 

 Mexicans, Central Americans, Guianians, Peruvians, etc. 



"Wicker basketry, uncommon in America, is prevalent among the 

 Hopi and Zuiii and little used by the other Pueblos. The Hopi 

 wicker baskets are the most artistic to be found in the world, and here 

 the decorations on wickerwork reaches its highest perfection, pre- 

 senting a surprising range of color and symbolic design. The forms 

 decorated in color are placques, and occasionally small deep baskets; 

 forms with structural decoration are oblong trays. Carrying bas- 

 kets and one of the two varieties of cradles are of wickerwork. 

 The frames of some of the masks are made by this method. It is 

 worthy of remark that wicker weaving is almost confined to the 

 Pueblo or Oraibi. The common material for wicker basketry are 

 the stems of Ehus, tough and strong, forming the frame work, and 

 the stems of Bigelovia graveolens, Chrysothamnus graveolens, and 

 Verhesnia encelioides, the latter desert plants, commonly called rabbit 

 brush, furnishing innumerable stems of even size, rather soft, but 



iFewkes, 22(1 Ann. Kept. Bur. Amer. Ethnol., 1900 (1904), fig. 60, p. 97. 

 2 Hough, Bull. 87, U. S. Nat. Mus., 1914, pi. 16. 

 8 Idem, p. 88, 



