BASKETS AND BASKET-MAKING 43 



identification) called ngai-al is used for dyeing black. Dr. Palmer 

 identified this plant as the Sueda diffusa. He says : 



The Coahuilla Indians of southern California make a fine black dye by 

 steeping a quantity of this plant in water. For coloring their baskets black 

 they take some mature rushes and steep them for several hours in this dye, 

 which is very penetrating, and the color is durable, but it has a fetid, disa 

 greeable smell. 1 



Dr. Palmer also notes a use of the dahlia which I have never myself 

 observed. 



Dalea Einoryi ; D. polyadenia. Branches of this plant, steeped in water, 

 form a bright yellowish brown dye and emit a strong odor. The Coahuilla 

 Indians, to ornament their baskets, steep the rushes in a dye prepared from 

 these daleas. 2 



25. Basket-making is one of the chief employments of the old 

 women. One will sit down flat on the ground on the shady side of an 

 jacal with her limbs thrust out straight in front of her. She holds her 

 unfinished basket in her lap ; at her right lies the pile of grass for the 

 body of the coil and on her left side, soaking in a little pot of water, 

 to keep them pliable, are her variously colored withes. Her only 

 implement is her awl or wish. This was formerly made of a bone or 

 even of a long spine from the opuntia set in a piece of asphaltum 

 for a handle, but now it is made of a nail, rubbed down to a slender 

 point, and the handle is of manzanita wood. The wrapping mate 

 rials are named according to color. The scapes of the Juncus are 

 called se-il and their red portions i-i-ul. When dyed black they are 

 called se-il-tul-iksh or black se-il. The splints from the sumac are 

 called se-lit and the body grass su-ul. With these materials the good 

 old lady will work cheerily away hour after hour, while perhaps a 

 little grandchild plays softly near at hand and a mess of food simmers 

 in an olla over the low fire. No model or pattern is ever used ; the 

 basket takes ready shape under her skilful fingers, and is always sym 

 metrical and shapely, and the intricate regularity of pattern carefully 

 preserved. The ends of the withes are pushed back and underneath, 

 and cut off on the inside. 



The patterns are varied and always tasteful. A great variety of 

 formal decorative figures are used : sometimes rather conventionalized 

 representations of men, women, and children, horses, deer, etc., are 

 woven into it. I have a curious basket with figures of the human hand 



* DR. EDWARD PALMER, &quot; Plants used by the Indians of the United States,&quot; American Natu 

 ralist, 1878, Vol. XII, p. 653. 



2 Ibid., p. 654. 



