196 COILED BASKETRY IN BRITISH COLUMBIA [eru. ann. 41 
CARE AND PRESERVATION 
The information included in this section is chiefly applicable to 
the Upper Thompson, although probably it is equally true of other 
tribes. 
When a new, fine basket was much prized, and in the old days 
such were not lightly regarded, the owner took precautions at the 
outset to protect it as much as possible from the hard wear which by 
necessity usually devolved upon it. When rawhide was plentiful a 
large piece was fastened over the bottom on the outside, extending well 
up the sides, but in later times this was supplanted by heavy canvas. 
Such patches were especially placed on baskets used for, carrying 
loads on the backs of horses, where the severe rubbing against the 
packsaddle, to which they were subjected, would cut short the life 
of the best coil work. The loads were always piled to the rim, lest 
the pressure of the lash rope on the partially empty basket would 
dent or break it. If there were not sufficient contents to fill the 
basket, brush was stuffed into the remaining space. 
Empty baskets were placed upside down on the top of the load 
and tied to it with small cords. As was mentioned in the section 
on “the foot” (pl. 14, 6), the bottoms of those baskets which habitu- 
ally rested on the ground were protected from contact with it by a 
few rings of coil. Only the Chilcotin put hoops around the rims, and 
with them it may have been force of habit, on account of their previous 
acquaintance with bark basketry and because, later, their coiled ware 
never attained the rigidity of that manufactured by their neighbors. 
(See, however, p. 201.) Dirt was removed by scouring and scrubbing 
with tepid water. At present the people take much less care of their 
belongings than formerly, another indication of the loss of the sense 
of responsibility which must be laid at the door of the white man. 
REPAIRING 
Different methods of repairing have been mentioned, such as calk- 
ing, putting in new bottoms, resewing coils, etc., so that there is little 
need of entering into this subject in detail here. Rawhide thongs 
or bark twine were sometimes used for patching coils or for fas- 
tening in a patch of stiff rawhide over the hole left by the wearing 
out of a bottom. The stitching in such cases was vertical, catch- 
ing in different coils alternately long and short, like that on birch 
bark, where the purpose is to prevent its tearing along the grain. 
Loose pieces of hide, the size of the original bottom, were occasion- 
ally dropped inside to protect the bottom, and for these or for new 
skin bottoms, old parfléches were cut up. In a few cases, wooden 
bottoms, consisting of pieces of board about a centimeter thick, 
were cut to fit the space, and sewed to the sides by thongs which 
passed through small holes bored near the edges. These holes and 
the joint were then pitched to prevent leakage. 
