204 COILED EASKETRY IN BRITISH COLUMBIA [ETH ANN. 41 
11.9 cm. across the bottom, and 11.3 em. across the mouth, was 
considered rather too high for the other proportions. The mouths 
of these baskets were made just large enough to permit the easy 
entrance of a woman’s hand. Most of the women said there was no 
point in making them any larger and none were made smaller, be- 
cause they would be inconvenient (pl. 17, d). Almost all of these are 
provided with lids (pls. 8, d, and 9, a), which are attached by one or 
two long loops of buckskin, fastened as shown in Figure 16, ¢ and f, 
p. 186. Occasionally they are attached with pieces of leather resem- 
bling hinges (fig. 16, a), but this style is not popular, for the hinge 
obscures part of the design. Other methods are pictured in Figure 
16, b-d. Modern baskets have a flanged rim and lid, as shown in 
Figure 17, d and f, p. 188. Lids of hide were ornamented with 
designs carried out in paint or beads, and were sometimes pinked 
around the edges. The small nut-shaped baskets are often imbri- 
cated all over with great care, for they are usually intended for gifts 
to be given to other women or girls, and sometimes to men. A few 
have conoid lids instead of flat ones, with a knob on top as a handle. 
The knobs are quite modern and are made principally by the Lower 
Thompson. One of these is shown in Plate 14, d. 
Very little is known about the pot-shaped baskets. They were 
rather large, like jars, with constricted mouths, just large enough to 
admit a hand, and supplied with buckskin loops for handles. They 
were used for storing water, oil, grease, etc. The mouth may have 
been sealed with pitch, although there is no information on this 
point. The age of the type is not known. 
The jar shape given in Figure 28, d, is not made at all now, and 
many persons do not even know it. The neck was about 3 em. high 
and was seldom over 7 cm. in diameter. There was no lid, but the 
opening was stopped with a plug of grass, bark, or wood. The loops 
for carrying are shown in the figure. Just when these shapes were 
used is not known, but they are supposed to have been employed for 
carrying water, or as pitchers in the house. Some people say they 
were first made in the time when the Hudson Bay Company flour- 
ished; that is, from 1810 to 1860; and again this is denied. It is 
possible that they were an old type, for bags and bark baskets with 
constricted mouths were commonly known and used by the tribe. 
Their exact proportions are uncertain. 
A small round basket about the size of a cup but wider and with 
a slightly constricted rim was made by the Lytton people and dubbed 
“Tobin’s nest” (fig. 28, ¢). It was used as a cup, generally by girls. 
“Robin’s nests’’ were frequently imbricated all over the surface and 
even supplied with loopwork borders. In this case they were prob- 
ably never intended to be used. They are rarely made now. 
