SwAJiTON] INDIAN TRIBES OF THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY 34*7 



Canoes and wooden niortai-s (])L 21) for [)onndinf>; corn \v(m-o hol- 

 lowed out of ])iect>s of wood by means of fire, the fire behig encour- 

 aged by bknving and checketl by means of mud. Other canoes were 

 made of ehn bark. An out-of-doors rocking-chair used to be extem- 

 porized by bending down tlie head of a young tree, attaching it to 

 the trunk and fastening a seat on the outer end. Figure 2 shows a 

 Avooden stick, such as was used in parching, a bow, and a washing 

 paddle, the use of Avliich is probably not ancient. 



Mr. Paul states that pottery continued to be made until about 

 eighty years ago, and that it was ornamented with designs similar to 

 those on the basketry to be noted presently, though this can have been 

 but partially true. One of the places from which clay was obtained 

 for making these was close to his garden. A single pot of the old 

 kind remained in his possession until the time of the St. Louis Ex- 

 position, when it was obtained by some person and sent there. On 



Fig. 2. — Chitimacha implcrafiits. At the top is a woodeu paddle used in wasliin^, in the 

 middle is a bow, and at the bottom a wooden stick used in parching. None of these are 

 very old, but they may represent some ancient forms. 



the inside, he says, were fingermarks, as if the potter had shaped it 

 inside with the fingers only. He declares that the material did not 

 contain shells or anything similar. The important part played by a 

 monster pot in the flood legend indicates that the art was an old one 

 among these people. 



Arrow points are said to have been brought by friendly Indians 

 from the north, while the shafts came from a little black bush with 

 hard wood, growing on high land, which yields switches only of the 

 size of a whip. 



The chief glory of the Chitimacha Indians from an industrial point 

 of view is, however, its basketry. This, thanks to the interest and 

 personal efforts of Mrs. Sidney Bradford, of Avery island, has re- 

 ceived a new impetus within recent years, and much which was on 

 the point of being lost has been brought back to life. The following 

 information was in part oI)tained by the writer directly from the 



