304 COILED BASKETRY IN BRITISH COLUMBIA _ [eru. ann. 41 
for large surfaces or fillers for undecorated spaces. Angles or chev- 
rons were especially attractive to them as outlines for parts of 
diamonds or triangles (fig. 90, c) and the T figure for filling in the 
space between two diamonds (fig. 90, d). They expressed a liking 
for barred effects on rectangles and squares and also for groups of 
lines arranged at right angles to each other (fig. 90, e). Diagonal 
lines as borders for step figures or horizontal lines inclosing zigzags 
or opposed triangles, and combinations of zigzags and triangles 
they considered very pleasing (fig. 91). Notches, checks, or small 
crosses as a means of subdividing the surfaces of large figures were 
also very popular, as may be seen from a survey of the photographs. 
OV \AQTS sil 
Fic. 90.—Combinations of designs 
The women also possessed quite pronounced dislikes, especially 
in regard to color combinations, feeling that red and black spaces 
should be separated by a white line or by bare background. They 
disapproved of designs haying a crowded appearance as well as of 
those which seemed too scattered and bare, their reasons being that 
in the former case the figures would not show to advantage, while in 
the latter the basket would look, as they expressed it, too weak. 
Two informants argued that the designs pictured in Sketches 49, 
50, 54, 84, 153, 154, 237, 348, 415, 419, 421, 512, 539-543, 582, 682, 
691, 740, 818, 821, 824, 834, 837, 838, and 842 were not suitable 
for baskets, some being too plain, others lacking good outlines. 
BER mow SEY 
a 
Fic. 91.—Combinations of designs 
Unfortunately Mr. Teit did not specify which faults belonged to 
which sketches or whether their lack of fitness applied only to certain 
forms of baskets or to all of them. Any designs which appeared un- 
finished or were unsymmetrical were deemed undesirable for basketry 
ornamentation. 
GEOMETRIC FORMS AND THEIR INTERPRETATIONS 
To return to purely geometric elements, the important question 
presents itself as to how these may be interpreted. Are there many 
very divergent ideas centered in and around the same geometric 
forms or are the meanings given more or less related? What are 
the forms, if any, which are given only one interpretation? If many 
are associated with the figure, what is their range of variability and 
