246 COILED BASKETRY IN BRITISH COLUMBIA [eTH, ANN. 41 
creation. In order to enable the reader to appreciate fully the almost 
endless number of variations on a simple theme which are used by the 
Thompson in their decorative art, we have grouped the more than 800 
forms which have been noted and copied by Mr. Teit, during many 
years of close association with the people, around the simple form 
elements from which they may be derived. (See pls. 78-94.) To 
a certain extent these groupings are necessarily arbitrary and patterns 
assigned to one group might just as well be associated with another, 
but in this attempt at an arrangement of designs from the most simple 
to the most complex, it must be understood that the order as given is 
merely one of convenience. 
The art is almost wholly conventional. Dr. W. H. Holmes in his 
paper on ‘‘ Textile Art in its Relation to Form and Ornament” “ has 
discussed at length the decoration of basketry and its limitations. 
Due to these same limitations the art is almost wholly angular, near 
curves being seen only seldom and attained by series of stitches 
arranged in step formation. 
There is a group of semirealistic forms, in which the objects are 
mostly represented by lines which can usually receive but one inter- 
pretation, and another of purely geometric forms in which the geo- 
metric figures may be interpreted in various ways as representations 
of objects. This latter type of art preponderates largely and will 
receive first consideration. 
GEOMETRIC DeEsIGNs 
Most of the simple geometric forms appear and are elaborated. 
These are the horizontal, oblique, and vertical lines, meanders, 
chevrons and zigzags, the triangle, square, rectangle, rhomboid, 
trapezoid, diamond, hexagon, and octagon. There are a few other 
figures which result from the truncation of some of these forms, and 
a number which are more complicated. 
The creation of the horizontal line is practically determined by the 
technique of the basket. It is the result of beading or imbrication 
carried sufficiently far along one coil to produce a decorative effect. 
Theoretically, vertical rows should not be particularly difficult to 
create, since they merely require for their construction a repetition 
of the technical process of beading or imbricating stitches in each coil 
directly over those so treated in previous rounds. Practically, how- 
ever, with the Thompson, at least, this is quite a difficult achieve- 
ment, for, while they split the stitch beneath on the side toward them 
when making the awl hole, they seldom divide it into equal portions, 
as is done by the Chilcotin. Because they drive the awl through 
the basket at right angles to it, they likewise furcate the stitch on the 
inner side. The splint lies across the coil in a more nearly vertical 
47 Sixth Ann. Rept. Bur. Ethn., pp. 187-252. 
