THE INDIANS OF CAPE FLATTERY. 



43 



shape and used as chopping trays (Figs. 27 and 28). The wood of the alder, when 

 freshly cut, is soft and white and easily worked, but a short exposure to the air 



Fig. 27. No. 113t. 



Wooden trencher. 

 Fig. 28. 



Wooden bowls and dishes. 



hardens and turns it to a red color. The bark chewed and spit into a dish 

 forms a bright red dye pigment of a permanent color, which is used for dyeing 

 cedar bark or grass. I have tried to extract this color by other means, but find that 

 no process produces so good a dye as chewing. Alcohol gives an orange color, and 

 boiling water, dark brown or black. I think, however, if it were macerated or 

 ground in warm water, with, perhaps, the addition of certain salts, a very useful 

 dye might be obtained. 



Bowls are sometimes made of knots taken from decayed logs of maple or fir, as 

 represented in Figs. 29 and 30. 



Fig. 29. 



Fig. 30. 



Wooden bowls of maple or fir knots. 



Feather and Dog's-hair Blankets. — Blankets are not only made of feathers, or 

 rather down, and of dog's hair, but also of cedar bark. The method of manufac- 

 turing the first named is to select a bird that has plenty of down, and, first picking 

 out all the feathers carefully, to skin it, and then dry the skin with the down 

 on. When a sufiicient number have been prepared they are sli'ghtly moistened, 



