Boas] IMBRICATION 141 
SHAPES 
Coeur d’Aléne______-..-_--.-- Had six or seven shapes. 
Tiikel stewie: Pease tine’ Had six or seven shapes. 
Colombiiat 8+ arnt cout ek Had several shapes. 
WENRtCH ss Had several shapes. 
UD OLY Sa eee eet ees doe Had several shapes. 
RUDE Adie testes) Satees Sepee we se Shapes all circular with small rounded or wid 
flat bottoms. \ 
From what has so far been said it seems that the same general 
conditions existed south of the Canadian boundary line as werefound 
north of it; that is, the basketry art flourished in the Cascades where 
material was plentiful and the people lived more or less sedentary 
lives. It spread only slowly toward the coast, and never attained the 
same degree of prominence to the east where the climate was drier and 
materials were scarce. In the latter direction the people were in 
contact with Plains culture, and the buffalo hunt as well as the in- 
troduction of the horse altered the early habits of the people, who 
abandoned the basket-making industry and bought their baskets 
with hides. They were in contact with the Europeans earlier than 
the tribes to the west; and when metal utensils were introduced 
these were soon substituted for baskets, except for those used in 
berrying. Bags, however, were still useful in traveling and continued 
to be made even after the people settled on the reservations. This 
was true of the Coeur d’Aléne, who only a century previous had made 
many baskets. 
All of this information strengthens previous indications that the 
Salish tribes as a whole made coiled baskets from the earliest known 
times, although since 1850 most of them have practically discontinued 
the industry. It also shows that imbrication was confined originally 
to the western part of the country near the Cascades, along the 
Columbia River and north, but that about the beginning of the nine- 
teenth century it spread eastward. It seems never to have extended 
as far as the Kalispel, Pend d’Oreille, and Flathead, a fact which would 
indicate its comparatively recent adoption by the tribes immediately 
west of them. Mr. Teit believed, however, that the Coeur d’Aléne 
had it. It also appears that the old rounded, elongated burden bas- 
ket was widely spread among practically all of the tribes. The only 
tribes not using this shape now or formerly in the area under discus- 
sion are the Yakima and Klickitat, a fact which may add weight to 
the tradition of an invasion by these and other Sahaptin tribes into 
the territory formerly occupied by the Salish, thus dividing the Thomp- 
son-Columbia area from the Nisqualli-Cowlitz. The theory that the 
southernmost tribes may have adopted the distinctive shape used by 
4 Sanpoil and Colville made trays. 
