THE BASKET MAKER 



whimpering. Now and then one or an- 

 other of the blind keepers of the camp will 

 come across to where you sit gossiping, 

 tapping her way among the kitchen mid- 

 dens, guided by your voice that carries far 

 in the clearness and stillness of mesa after- 

 noons. But suppose you find Seyavi re- 

 tired into the privacy of her blanket, you 

 will get nothing for that day. There is 

 no other privacy possible in a campoodie. 

 All the processes of life are carried on out 

 of doors or behind the thin, twig-woven 

 walls of the wickiup, and laughter is the 

 only corrective for behavior. Very early 

 the Indian learns to possess his counte- 

 nance in impassivity, to cover his head with 

 his blanket. Something to wrap around 

 him is as necessary to the Paiute as to 

 you your closet to pray in. 



So in her blanket Seyavi, sometime 

 178 



