218 COILED BASKETRY IN BRITISH COLUMBIA [eTH. ANN. 4i 
area of these being at least four times that of the base, frequently 
more. On the whole, the shapes appear to be rather deep, the 
height measurement falling about halfway between the width and 
length of the mouth, and exceeding a little the length of the bottom. 
Closer examination reveals that one group is marked by a decidedly 
oval wall contour throughout the lower half of the basket, the corners, 
if noticeable, being rounded (fig. 36, a). There is a flare of end walls 
of about 30°; of side walls, about 20°. From about the middle of 
the basket upward the direction of the walls shifts to almost vertical, 
perhaps a slant of 10° being carried to the rim where the corners are 
more clearly defined. This feature, together with the rounded 
corners, small bases, wide mouths, and comparative depth, gives an 
exceedingly graceful effect. 
It will be remembered that in the section on structure it was 
reported that the women corrected a too great tendency to flare by 
holding in the coils. Evidently for a certain type of basket this has 
become a part of the established procedure, for there are too many 
examples having almost identical form for the shift in direction of 
wall building which occurs somewhere between the middle and upper 
third of the basket to be accounted for in each case as a correction. 
Such an explanation might be given for baskets made by beginners, 
or poor hands, but not for all of those noted, many of which are 
undoubtedly the handiwork of expert craftswomen. 
The second group resembles the first in general proportions, but 
chiefly lacks the curb to the flare. The walls are straight, and flare 
continuously, the ends at an angle of about 35°, the sides at about 
25°. The corners are perhaps more sharply defined and some of 
the specimens, at least, are longer in proportion to their width. 
The height is not quite so great, being more nearly equal to the width 
of the mouth. Figure 36, 6, shows a typical side and end of this 
style. 
Within these two groups, which for convenience will be styled 
A and B, there is an almost continuous range of size, from the largest 
(A, height 40 cm., bottom 19 by 30, mouth 39 by 52; B, height 35, 
bottom 16 by 27, mouth 39 by 52) to the smallest (A, height 16, 
bottom 7 by 11, mouth 18 by 23; B, height 18, bottom 11 by 16, 
mouth 23 by 29). There are deep ones and shallow ones, but not in 
such number as to form distinct groups, while there are all possible 
variations in between. Group A has more representatives than 
group B and a more clearly defined middle or medium size, a good 
example of which measures for the height 27 cm., bottom 22 by 15, 
and mouth 40 by 30. There is also a variety of these two groups, 
A and B (medium to small size), represented by a few baskets whose 
walls, even at the rim, are almost purely oval. Looking down into 
them one is reminded of a clothes boiler or vat. The straightening 
of the walls toward the top, while less than in group A, is still notice- 
able. There is another intermediary group which combines the 
