FORM IX TEXTILE ART. 



199 



special function, the carrying and storing of water ; a contour full 

 to give capacity, narrow above for safety, and jDointed below tluil it 

 may be set in sand ; curves kept within certain bounds by the limit- 

 ations of constriiction ; and a goodly share of variety, symmetry, and 

 grace, the result to a certain undetermined extent of the esthetic 

 tendencies of the artist's mind. In regard to the last point there 

 is generally in forms so simple an element of uncertainty: but many 

 examples may be found in which there is ]i()sitivc evidence of tin- rxist- 

 fiic'f of a stroiii;- ilosire on the part of tlie i)rniiiti\c ba>kcl maker to 

 enhaucr beauty of form. It will be observed that tlic textile juaterials 

 and construction do not lend themselves freely to minuteness in de- 

 tail or to complexity of outline, especially in those small ways in 

 which beauty is most readily expressed. 



Modifications of a decidedly esthetic character are generally sug- 

 gested to the i>rimitive mind by some functional, constructive, or 

 accidental featiire whicli may with ease be turned in the new direc- 

 tion. In the vessel i)resented in Fig. 280 — the work of Alaskan 



Fig. 2Sn. Ve.sspl with 



f the Yakama — |. 



Indians — the margin is varied by altering the relations of tlie three 

 mai-ginal turns of the coil, producing a scalloped effect. This is 

 without reference to use, is uncalled for in construction, and hence 

 is, in all probability, the direct result of esthetic tendencies. Other 

 and much more elaborate examples may be found in the basketry of 

 almost all countries. 



In the pursuit of this class of enrichment tliere is occasionally no- 

 ticeable a tendency to overload the subject with extraneous details. 

 This is not apt to occur, however, in the indigenous practice of an 

 art, btit comes more frequently from a loss of equilibrium or balance 

 in motives or desires, caused by untowai'd exotic influence. When, 

 through suggestions derived from contact with civilized art, the sav- 

 age undertakes to secure all the grace ami coniiilexity observed in the 



