150 COILED BASKETRY IN BRITISH COLUMBIA [ETH. ANN. 41 
Reeds and grass for imbrication grow inswamps. Certain Indians 
say that they are cut at about the same season, that is, in strawberry 
time, for then they are not too coarse. They are dried in the sun 
and subsequently smoked. Other informants say that the grass is 
cut in the fall, after becoming thoroughly ripe, or even occasionally 
from standing stems in the early winter. Only the best stalks are 
selected and these are cut off close to the joints so that the pieces 
which are free of imperfections may be as long as possible. 
Around Spuzzum, bark which is used for imbrication is peeled from 
the bushes in narrow strips as long as can be obtained, a knife or 
some other sharp object aiding in the work. According to Thompson 
and Lytton people, cherry bark was formerly peeled from the tree in 
the same manner in which birch bark was removed. ‘The tree was 
encircled with two incisions, the distance between them depending 
on the extent of good bark available. These were then connected 
by a vertical slit which made it possible to pry off the band and to 
divide it into ribbons of the desired width. When steel knives be- 
came common, the bark was cut from the tree spirally in long strips 
about one-half a centimeter wide. 
PREPARATION OF MATERIALS 
Com AND SEWING SPLINTS 
After the roots have been taken home they are peeled or scraped 
and the strips of cortex are saved for tying bundles of grass or 
splints or for mixing with those of second grade in coil foundations. 
The clean roots are split and resplit with a knife or a sharp awl until 
the single splints are about 2 millimeters wide and half a milli- 
meter thick. Good roots split easily. Strips which are straight 
and even in grain are put aside for sewing purposes, but uneven, 
short, or brittle pieces are saved for padding. The finest splitting 
is not always done at the time when the root is first roughly divided 
but only just before it becomes quite dry. In this work the point of 
the knife or awl is inserted in the center of the strip near one end, 
which causes it to split, after which the two sections are pulled apart 
with the hands. If the piece does not split straight along the middle 
line, the direction is corrected by cutting in with the knife or the awl. 
When very long roots are divided it is necessary to take a fresh hold 
after pulling as far as the outstretched arms will allow. Sometimes 
two women work conjointly, or one woman holds her strip in her teeth 
and spreads the pieces apart gradually by inserting her fingers in the 
crack. It requires only a short time to obtain many splints from a 
good piece of root. Those intended for sewing are made as uniform 
in size as possible and are flat, because they are taken from the 
smooth outside part of the root next to the cortex, but no such care 
