348 BUREAU OF AMERICAN E'niNOl.OOY Ibill. 4n 



IiuliaiLs, ill })arl received from ]Mrs. lirad ford, who had llie advantage 

 of a direct consultation with CUara Dardin, tlie ohlest person in the 

 tribe, the most experienced basket malver, and daughter of a noted 

 Chitimacha chief, Alexandre Dardin, who is believed to have been 

 really a Taensa Indian. The material employed was cane of a 

 variety called pi'ya in Chitimacha, which was split with the teeth, 

 and woven in tAvo layers, so as to form what is really a double basket. 

 The natural color of the cane is varied by the use of three dyes — 

 black, 3'ellow, and red. To produce a black color the canes are 

 boiled in black walnut {Juglans nigi'a L.) leaves and seeds. For 

 yellow the Avriter was told that the canes are exposed to the dew for 

 six days and afterward boiled fifteen minutes with a root called 

 powaa'c," but the time given Mrs. Bradford was eight days and thirty 

 ndnutes, respectively. It is probable that botli statements are correct, 

 the time varying with different basket makers. It may be conjectured 

 that eight days was the ancient period allowed for exposure to the 

 dew, because in it we find the common American sacred number four. 

 The redilwas produced, according to Mrs. Bradford's informant, by 

 exposing the canes eight days to the dew, soaking them eight more 

 in lime, and then boiling fifteen minutes in powaa'c, while the writer 

 was told simj^ly that the canes were passed through lime and then 

 boiled with the roots. 



The ordinary word for basket is kdl'xf. The sieve used in sifting 

 Hour was called eied'x^ or, abbreviated, cdx^ and the Icl'keti was a 

 long basket used for collecting large clams. Plates 22 to 30 represent 

 a number of specimens obtained for the National Museum by Mrs. 

 Bradford and are accompanied by explanations. 



Ke'ndpc was the name of a design no longer employed, supposed 

 to resemble beads. The matting was as good as the basketry (pi. 31). 



The Chitimacha resembled the Natchez and some other tribes of 

 the lower Mississippi in having a distinct class of nobility, with 

 different terms of etiquette for each. This is affirmed by the living 

 Indians and fully confirmed by the following statement : 



There are distinctions of rauk recoguized iiuioug them ; the c-hiefs and their 

 descendants are noble, and the balance of the people are of the class of commons. 

 An old man of this latter class, however great may be his age, will use to the 

 yoimg noble, however young he may be, respectful expressions which are only 

 enii)loyed toward the nobility, while the latter has the I'iglit of speaking to lli(> 

 former only in i»oi)ular ternis.^ 



This strongly recalls the Natchez system and adds importance to a 

 tradition that the Cliitimacha had come from the neighborhood of 

 the Natchez tribe.'' 



"This root has been supposed to belong to liitmex i^eiiiccllaftin L.. but pro))abl.v is 1b(> 

 same as that employed, according to Mr. D. I. liusbnell, by the ("buctaw of St. 'raininany 

 parish, rouisiana, which is Riimex rrispus. 



I' From till' MS. refi-rred to on p. I'.S.'i. 



