216 COILED BASKETRY IN BRITISH COLUMBIA [ETH. ANN. 41 
It is quite clear in spite of differences that the women on the whole 
have quite well defined ideas as to what constitutes a good form for a 
burden basket. Only a bottom ranging in size within certain rather 
narrow limits is ever used with a basket of a given size. When a 
woman has completed a bottom to a certain point, she may be heard 
to say that now it is about the right size for such and such a type of 
basket. The whole picture of the one she intends to create is in 
her mind before she even commences the bottom, and this picture is 
her pattern. The proper flare is obtained by practice and good 
judgment. A woman soon learns to pinch out the coil to the right 
degree and so nearly do they all follow the standard that one woman 
can complete another’s basket without perceptibly changing the 
flare. A rough calculation tells a woman after the sides are up, 
and a certain flare has been obtained, when it is time to make the 
rim. Two or three coils, more or less, on a large basket make little 
difference in the general appearance while on a small one they would 
utterly destroy the proportions which experience and taste have 
created as standards. 
Sometimes the height of the walls is measured in the following 
manner. When the sides are about halfway up, the woman measures 
with a sewing splint, from the coil at which she is working down to 
the bottom, seizing the splint between the thumb and forefinger and 
marking the completed height with the edge of the nails. She then 
holds the splint up from the top coil to assist her in visualizing where 
the rim will come. If it appears too high by what seems to be two 
or three coils, she measures to within a coil or two of the bottom and 
by means of this shortened measurement gauges the correct height. 
When she is satisfied as to the proportion, she counts the number of 
coils which have been made in the approved distance from the top 
coil down to the one from which the splint was measured and adds 
the same number above. The proportions are not altered by the 
kind of bottom made, nor does sharpness or roundness of corners 
affect them. As a rule the Thompson adhere quite closely to their 
own ideas of proportion and therefore the Lillooet think their baskets 
are of very bad shape. 
When the corners are very rounded, the whole form approaching 
an oval, it is difficult to tell where sides leave off and ends begin. 
The women do not seem to think it necessary to determine this 
exactly, and no measurements are taken. The point of rounding is 
dependent upon the eye of the maker. Baskets with very rounded 
corners are considered to be of the real old Thompson style. The 
best old specimens show a very gradual transition from base to sides. 
Several reasons are given for using the line of beading which marks 
the theoretical limit of the bottom. 
