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well as in Alaska, with a few scattering specimens among the 

 Central Eskimo to form a connecting link between. The broken 

 appearance of the industry appears to be governed by local 

 conditions and the presence of material. We find Alaskan 

 baskets also with the angular openwork design, but I have seen 

 none with a double curved line. Outside this variation in design, 

 one could not tell, as far as appearance goes, the basketry of 

 one section from the other. Of course, there is a large difference 

 in individual workmanship, but some specimens obtained from 

 Cape Chidley were as closely sewn and finely made as anything 

 I have seen in Alaska. I incline to the opinion that the ability 

 to make this simple coiled basketry is inherent among the 

 Eskimo, and only needs contact with the proper material to 

 bring it out. It may be an intrusive art, but more probably 

 is characteristic of Eskimo culture at an earlier period when they 

 dwelt farther inland. If it is a borrowed art, it has been so long 

 adopted that its origin is forgotten. Its source would be hard to 

 trace, as Eskimo basketry differs from that of any of the neigh- 

 bouring Indian types. One would have to go as far south as 

 the California area for comparisons. Its resemblance to the 

 Hopi ware of the southwest is very marked. It has been sug- 

 gested by Mason that the eastern basketry is an acculturation, 

 derived from the whites, possibly the Norseman, as this style 

 of coiled sewing is found in northern Europe. But, as we 

 have seen, the eastern basketry is exactly the same as that in 

 Alaska, which would point to a common racial origin. If the 

 Norsemen made baskets in Greenland it is not reflected in the 

 present Eskimo culture there. The Moravian missions have 

 encouraged the making of basketry by the Eskimo as a native 

 art, and furnished a market for it, as has Dr. Grenfell in his 

 missionary work on the coast. 1 There is no other connexion 



1 Under date of October 28, 1915, Miss Jessie Luther, who has been connected for many 

 years with the Industrial Department of the International Grenfell Association, writes me: 

 "I think undoubtedly they are purely a native industry- I have been connected with the mis- 

 sion ten years, nearly half the time Dr. Grenfell has been on the coast, and from the first have 

 seen specimens of that kind of basket. I was told they came from farther north and during 

 the past seven years I have gone down the Labrador coast as far as possible every summer 

 and have found them at various places. The best have come from the neighbourhood of Hope- 

 dale, Nain, and perhaps Okkak. I have also found some good ones around Hamilton inlet. 

 I have not tried to regulate this branch of native work, it is so good in itself." [E. 

 Sapir.] 



