164 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



gamut as among the Haida and Makah, guided by the maker's fancy 

 and the demands of trade. These Indians all live on the border of 

 civilization and derive a large revenue from the sale of their wares. 

 The colors are of native manufacture — red, yellow, blue, green, alter- 

 nating with the natural color of the wood. To begin with the rudest, 

 let us take a dozen or 16 strips of paper half an inch wide and cross 

 them so as to have one half perpendicular to the other half, woven 

 in checker at the center and extending to form the equal arms of a 

 cross. Bend up these arms perpendicular with the woven checker and 

 pass a continuous splint, similar to the framework, round and round in 

 a continuous coil from the bottom to the top. Fit a hoop of wood to 

 the top, bend down the upright splints over this, and sew the whole 

 together with a whipping of splint, and you will have the type 

 basket. Now, by varying the width of the splint used to cover the 

 sides, a great difference of appearance is secured. . . Finally, 

 the Algonkin, as well as the Southern Indians, have learned to 

 decorate baskets with a great variety of rolls, looking much like the 

 napkins on the table of a hotel. The weaver draws a splint under 

 the warp stick, gives it a turn up and down, or two turns in different 

 directions, and draws the loose end tightly under the next warp 

 stick but one. The operation is repeated, forming around the basket 

 one or more rows of projecting ornaments. Mason, Basketry, p.373 



With so many accessible works on basketry, profusely illustrated, 

 styles of weaving need not now be discussed. In New York modern 

 forms have largely replaced those of early days, and to illustrate 

 present styles would be to represent those having few aboriginal 

 features. Yet it is a favorite Indian industry, largely followed on 

 some reservations, notably at St Regis and Onondaga. On the 

 latter the basket ash has been exhausted in the vicinity, and the 

 material has to be procured at a distance. In early days the Indians 

 would have camped or moved the town there. The wood is cut into 

 suitable lengths, brought home, hammered with an ax or maul till 

 the fibers separate, and then peeled off in long, thin strips. Various 

 dyes are used, commonly before weaving. With the increased fine- 

 ness of basket work, thinner strips are required, and not long since 

 the writer found an Indian friend using an iron tool with teeth, 

 which insured the desired quality. Sweet grass is also employed for 

 some delicate work. Many handsome baskets are made, and the 

 writer has a pretty one of simple design, woven by a girl four years 

 old. It is all home work; and figure 152 shows an Onondaga 

 basket maker sitting before her door. 



