BOAs] METHODS OF ORNAMENTATION 223 
per cent. There is one freak basket in which the width of base is 
65 per cent of that of the mouth of the basket, while the length of 
the bottom is 83.5 per cent of the length of the mouth.® 
There is a very small group of Lillooet baskets in the American 
Museum of Natural History which represents the kiketca or small 
katca * of quite variable form. They measure about 12 cm. in height, 
but the ratio of the width to the length of mouth ranges from 44 to 76 
per cent. The width of mouth exceeds the height by from 52 per 
cent to 79 per cent and the other ratios show equal variations; in 
some instances the corresponding measurements of bottom and mouth 
almost equal each other. 
METHODS OF ORNAMENTATION 
A tradition exists among the Thompson that the art of making 
and ornamenting coiled basketry was taught them long ago by the 
culture hero Coyote, incidentally, along with other arts. Baskets 
are often mentioned in mythology and are described as being coiled 
or of bark. 
The majority of coiled baskets made by the Thompson, Lillooet, 
Chileotin, Klickitat, and Wenatchi are ornamented on the outside 
surface by beaded or imbricated colored designs. Either may furnish 
the sole means of decoration or the two may be combined. 
BEADING 
According to the Upper Thompson, designs in beading are con- 
sidered as imitations of strings and necklaces of beads, or even of bead 
or quill embroidery. About 1860 and earlier beading was more com- 
mon, and at that time some baskets were completely covered with 
designs executed in this technique. Certainly it is very old, as its 
presence on the rims of ancient birch-bark baskets would indicate. 
As far as tradition goes, the Thompson have always used both bead- 
ing and imbrication. There is no statement that one is older than 
the other. 
Red and black bark or grass are used for putting in the designs, 
red being more popular. The combination of these two with a third, 
such as white grass or straw, is rather rare. 
In beading the outside of a coil, as it is bemg sewed and covered, is 
faced with a thin strip of brightly colored bark or grass. Occasionally 
more than one strip is used on the same coil at the same time. Neces- 
sarily, in such eases, the strips are reduced in width. (Fig. 38, a, b.) 
The diagonal work shown in ¢ and d is done by the Lillooet and 
Upper Fraser peoples but it has not been found among the Lower 
33 All Lillooet bottoms are made of parallel coils or slats. Thus their marked rectangular form is in part 
accounted for. 
4 Lillooet terms for burden baskets. 
4 See Teit, The Shuswap. (Publication of the Jesup North Pacific Expedition, Vol. I, p. 478; fig. 202.) 
