136 COILED BASKETRY IN BRITISH COLUMBIA LETH. ANN. 41 
their northern and western neighbors as well as from the Klickitat 
themselves. There are no data concerning the Tai’xnapam (Tyigh), 
who live south of the Columbia River. 
It is not clear whether coiled work was produced by the Sahaptin 
in former times. The Klickitat say that according to earliest tradi- 
tion they themselves and the Tai’xnapam made coiled baskets, but 
tradition deals only with comparatively recent times. According to 
them the Wishram and Wasco were not basket makers, the Yakima 
did not make many, while the development of the industry among the 
Wallawalla, Umatilla, Palouse, Cayuse, and Nez Percé is in doubt. 
They secured coiled ware through trade. A somewhat conflicting 
statement is made by the Flatheads, who are of the opinion that the 
Nez Percé formerly manufactured coiled baskets. 
All? the tribes of western Washington, with the possible exception of 
the Makah, now make coiled and imbricated basketry. Longagoitwas 
not produced by the Makah, Quileute, Chemakum, Queets, Quinault, 
Humptulips, Satsop, Songish, Upper and Lower Chehalis, Semiahmoo, 
Lower Fraser, Chinook, Upper and Lower Willapa, Clallam and 
Lummi. The last two tribes have been engaged in the industry for 
a long time, but the others took it up only in recent years, the Quin- 
ault, Queets, and Quileute as late as 1890. According to information 
received in this section of the country, the Nisqualli and allied 
tribes, including the Snohomish and Skagit, the Twana, Upper 
Chehalis, Cowlitz, and the Sahaptin tribes of Wanukt, Taitnapam, 
and Klickitat, have practiced the art as far back as can be remembered. 
A few informants assert that the Cowlitz were the most expert crafts- 
men, but they were certainly equaled by some of the Twana and 
Nisqualli. 
From this information, as well as from that derived from other 
localities, it would appear that the original home of this type of coiled 
work lay in the Cascade region. The Salish antedated the other 
tribes in the manufacture, having produced the ware before the 
arrival of the Klickitat west of the Cascades, a statement which is 
confirmed by the distribution of the industry. 
Had it first been introduced by the Sahaptin a distribution west 
as well as north might have been expected, with the Cowlitz as a 
center. The Chinook, Willapa, Satsop, and Lower Chehalis would 
then in all likelihood have acquired the art as soon as the Snohomish, 
for instance; but the reverse appears to have been the case, for even 
the Lummi and Clallam have been long established as craftsmen. 
Possibly a study of the basket names would reveal the location of the 
first center of the art in western Washington. Wherever coiled 
basketry was produced in this part of the country it seems to have 
2 The information given in this paragraph may be incomplete, but it was all that could be obtained 
by Mr. Teit. 
