134 



BASKETRY 



[b. a. e. 



foundation. In coiled work in which a 

 foundation is used the interlocking stitch- 

 es pass either above, through, or quite 

 under the foundation. Of coiled basketry 

 there are the following 

 varieties: Coiled work 

 without foundation; 

 simple interlocking 

 coils with foundation; 

 single-rod foundation; 

 two-rod foundation; 

 rod-and-splint founda- 

 tion; two-rod-and- 

 splint foundation; 

 three-rod foundation; 

 splint foundation; 

 grass-coil foundation; 

 and Fuegian stitches, 

 identical with the buttonhole stitch. By 

 using choice materials, or by adding pitch 

 or other resinous substance, baskets were 



HuPA Gathering Basket, 



INCHES HIGH 



FORMS OF BASKETRY WEAVING. a, CHECKER; 6 TWILLED; c, 



wicker; (I, wrapped; e, twined; /, cross-warp twined, 



g, WRAPPED TWINED; h, IMBRICATE 



made water-tight for holding or carrying 

 water for cooking. 



The chief use of baskets is as recep- 

 tacles, hence every activity of the In- 

 dians was associated with this art. Basket 

 work was employed, moreover, in fences, 

 game drives, weirs, houses, shields, cloth- 



Paiute Gathering Bask 



ing, cradles, for harvesting, and for the 

 disposal of the dead. This art is inter- 

 esting, not only on account of the tech- 

 nical processes employed, the great deli- 

 cacy of technic, and the intinite number 

 of purposes that it serves, but on account 

 of the ornamentation, wliich is effected 

 by dyeing, using materials of different 

 colors, overlaying, beading, and plaiting, 

 besides great variety in form and technic. 

 This is always added in connection with 

 the weaving or 

 sewing, and is fur- 

 ther increased 

 with decorative 

 beads, shells, and 

 feathers. In 

 forms basketry 

 varies from flat 

 wattling, as in 

 gambling and 

 bread plaques, 

 through trays, 

 bo wis, pots, cones, 

 jars, and cylin- 

 ders, to the ex- 

 quisite California 

 art work. The 

 geometric forms of decussations and 

 stitches gave a mosaic or conventional ap- 

 pearance to all decoration. The motives 

 in ornamentation were various. No doubt 

 a sense for beauty i n articles of use and a 

 desire to awaken admiration and envy in 

 others were uppermost. Imitation of 

 pretty objects in nature, such as snake 

 skins, and designs used by other tribes, 

 were naturally suggested. Such designs 

 pass over into the realms of symbolism 

 and religion. This is now alive and in 

 full vigor among 

 the Hopi of Ari- [^4,, 

 zona. The Indian 

 women have left 

 the best witness of 

 what they could 

 do in handiwork 

 and expression in 

 their basketry. 

 In E. United States 

 almost all of the 

 old-fashioned 

 methods of 1 lasket 

 making have 

 passed away, but 

 by taking impressions of pottery Holmes 

 has been able to reconstruct the ancient 

 processes, showing that they did not 

 differ in the least from those now extant 

 in the tribes w. of the Rocky mts. In 

 the southern states the existence of plia- 

 ble cane made possible twilled weaving, 

 which may still be found among the 

 Cherokee and the tribes of Louisiana. 

 The Athapascan tribes in the interior of 

 Alaska made coiled basketry from the 

 roots of evergreen trees. The Eskimo 



I CARRYING Basket 



(i-,o) 



