THE BASKET MAKER 



but does not philosophize about her pro- 

 cesses. Seyavi's bowls are wonders of 

 technical precision, inside and out, the 

 palm finds no fault with them, but the 

 subtlest appeal is in the sense that warns 

 us of humanness in the way the design 

 spreads into the flare of the bowl. There 

 used to be an Indian woman at Olancha 

 who made bottle-neck trinket baskets in 

 the rattlesnake pattern, and could accom- 

 modate the design to the swelling bowl and 

 flat shoulder of the basket without sensible 

 disproportion, and so cleverly that you 

 might own one a year without thinking how 

 it was done ; but Seyavi's baskets had a 

 touch beyond cleverness. The weaver and 

 the warp lived next to the earth and were 

 saturated with the same elements. Twice 

 a year, in the time of white butterflies and 

 again when young quail ran neck and neck 

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