Boas} PROPORTIONS OF BURDEN BASKETS 219 
characteristics of the types A and B in middle-sized baskets. They 
are rectangular, with a flare halfway between that of types A and B 
and about the same relative height. 
Many baskets have straight rims on sides and ends with rounded 
corners, but rims which bulge along the sides and ends are quite 
common. It is impossible to tell whether this roundness between 
corners is an intentional feature in each case. Most of the baskets 
have been used for many years, and their shape, at the rim at least, 
where they are more flexible, has been altered no doubt quite materi- 
ally in many cases by the character of burdens carried in them. 
All that it has been possible to do in the way of classifying these 
was to fit them as best it could be done, with due regard.for all these 
points, and thus group them together. 
There are a few specimens which are almost rectangular, some show- 
ing very sharply defined corners; and some shallow, very long forms 
with walls straighter and more vertical than the average, but these are ° 
after all rare compared to the others. Mr. Teit declared that there 
is no relation between the type of bottom used and the shape of the 
basket, but observation of specimens shows that there is some relation 
at least. All baskets with watch-spring bottoms, or those composed 
of several parallel lengths surrounded by elongated watch-spring 
coiling, are much more oval throughout their lower half than those 
made entirely or almost entirely of parallel coils. With these latter 
the tendency is toward well-defined corners. There is, however, 
a type of elongated watch-spring bottom, the coils of which are 
thickened to approximate the bottom to the proposed rectangular 
shape. This type is always associated with walls having corners, 
which, if not sharply defined, are nevertheless discernible. None 
of these.remarks apply to the upper half of the basket, where, the 
farther away from the bottom the worker goes, the more easily she 
can adapt the form to her taste, since she is limited in her treatment 
of corners only by the thickness and rigidity of her material. A few 
baskets with very rectangular bases have perfectly oval rims, but 
these are rare, and the coils are in most cases unusually heavy and 
stiff, although there are enough examples of thin and pliable coils 
to refute the theory that the oval form is due largely to the rigidity 
of material. From the list of measurements given in the Appendix, 
p- 416, it may be seen that there is a much closer relation between 
the height and the width of mouth than between the length of bottom 
and height, or length of bottom and width of mouth, all three of 
which dimensions have been stated to be nearly equal. 
The average excess of width of mouth over height is a little over 
12 per cent.” Taking the height as standard, there are variations 
all the way from 94.5 to 150 per cent. These extremes are rare, 
%® See Appendix, pp. 416 et seq., for this series of ratios. 
