BOAS] STRUCTURE OF BASKETS 195 
Occasionally a leather thong was used for the handle foundation, 
instead of a bunch of coil splints, or even fiber strings, either of which 
are more flexible and durable than splints (fig. 24, f). Where single 
coils are used (fig. 24, a), they are wrapped with a splint, but when 
they are double, the wrapping is alternately carried from one to the 
other, or the second coil may be sewed to the first (fig. 24, 6). The 
stitches may be held together more firmly by sewing up and down 
through them for the length of the handle between the coils, as may 
be seen in Figure 24, g. Such coiled handles were passed through a 
loop made by the rim coil, or else through a leather loop, and the ends 
were doubled back and fastened to the body of the handle by a tight 
wrapping and sewing (pls. 14, a, b, ¢, e; 16, a; 31, a, which are Lillooet 
specimens, and fig. 24, a, b, c). 
The Upper Thompson very rarely braided handles of leather thongs, 
twine, Indian hemp, or horsehair—another widely diffused type. 
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Fic. 25.—a, b, Method of attaching thong line; c, Load supported by sticks; d, e, Tying of top 
of basket 
No wooden handles were employed, such as bent sticks sewed to 
the basket walls, but some of the Uta’mqt used sapwood wrapped in 
splints of cherry bark or in quills for the kind of handles similar to 
those pictured in Figure 24, a, b, c. 
In addition to these aids in carrying baskets, where there were 
heavy loads to be transported, wrappings of ropes and withes were 
bound around the whole bundle to lessen the strain on the handles, 
and the burden was lifted by means of stout sticks passed beneath 
them. For carrying on the back tump lines were deemed sufficient. 
All handles such as knobs on lids and cups are modern. The lid 
knobs are made exactly like a miniature foot (pl. 14, d), while cup 
handles and the like are merely short bits of coiled work sewed to the 
wall of the main structure (fig. 24, d,e). Figure 25, a, 6, shows how 
the tump line is attached, ¢ shows a top load with supporting sticks 
and ties, and d and e the methods of attaching strings across the tops 
of loads. 
