156 COILED BASKETRY IN BRITISH COLUMBIA _ [erm. any. 41 
TRADE 
Materials for basket making are arranged in lots of a more or less 
standardized size and are sold or traded in this form. Bundles of 
splints, grass, and straw, and reels of bark vary somewhat in size, 
therefore the prices set upon them are not absolutely fixed. Packages 
of sewing splints which are 10 centimeters in diameter and about a 
meter long cost $1, while foundation splints, being of inferior quality, 
are to be bought for half of that sum. Average-sized bundles of 
grass, measuring from 15 to 19 centimeters long and 6 centimeters 
in diameter, cost 50 cents, but there are 25-cent, 75-cent, and $1 
sizes as well. Reels of bark about 15 meters long and 4 centimeters 
in diameter are 50 cents, with other sizes graded like grass 
bundles. The ribbons of bark are not of a standard width, but prices 
do not seem to depend on this. There is usually much trimming to 
be done on all material which is purchased and this is especially true 
of the edges of bark ribbon. 
Long ago there was considerable trade in the finished products, 
not so much between individuals in the same band or between 
neighboring bands and tribes as between people living near the 
Cascade Mountains and those inhabiting the arid country farther 
east. For reasons given elsewhere the Cascade people had developed 
a great basket industry, while the eastern tribes manufactured very 
few pieces. For instance, the Upper Thompson did not make enough 
to supply their own wants, therefore they could not trade with tribes 
east of them who had even fewer than themselves. 
Although bark baskets were plentiful, there was in the east a 
strong demand for woven work which the western tribes tried to 
meet. Therefore they produced more than they needed for home use. 
The Lytton and Upper Fraser divisions, although living in the arid 
country, were nevertheless near the Cascades. Although they 
did manufacture a few baskets for sale, they never had a surplus. 
The people of Spences Bridge and the Shuswap who were their 
neighbors are reported to have made very few. The latter obtained 
theirs from Lytton and Lillooet, while occasionally the southern 
part of the tribe seriously depleted the scant supply belonging to the 
northern branch. The Stuwi’x (Athapascan), also near at hand, 
made none whatever, but satisfied their needs by purchasing from the 
west, principally from the Lower Thompson. Very few Lower 
Thompson baskets went up the Fraser, because at that time the 
people living along its banks made all they required. Moreover, 
the trade route for basketry from their region was interrupted by a 
cross route from the direction of the Lower Lillooet, which reached 
the Fraser River at Lillooet and at Bridge River. For similar reasons 
very few Lillooet specimens traveled south, because in this direction 
