608 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [T-dll. 137 



^ows in moist places, to a height of 18 to 20 feet and is as large in diameter 

 as the fist. The natives make of it mats, sieves, little boxes, and many other 

 articles. (Le Page du Pratz, 1758, vol. 2, pp. 58-59; Swanton, 1911, p. 58.) 



But he has preserved nothing of the technique, nor has Dumont de 

 Montigny, though the latter has considerable to say regarding the 

 articles manufactured of cane : 



With the skin which they take from the outer part of the canes they make 

 very fine sifters (tamis). They also make some with larger openings which 

 serve as sieves (crihles), and they work others without openings which take 

 the place of winnowing baskets (van). They sell these little pieces of work to 

 the French, who obtain tliem for trifles. They also make hampers (panicrs) 

 worked very neatly, and baskets for corn. (Dumont, 1753, vol. 1, p. 151; Swan- 

 ton, 1911, p. 62.) 



Du Pratz also mentions these sifters, sieves, and winnowing baskets 

 as well as 



burden baskets for carrying grain, meat, fish, or other provisions which they 

 have to transport from one place to another . . . They are round, with a depth 

 greater than the diameter, and as large below as above. They make them of 

 all sizes. The medium sized are for the young girls. There are very little 

 ones for gathering strawberries. [He adds the interesting information, in- 

 teresting in view of the modern work of the Chitimacha Indians, that] they 

 make double baskets, or those which have no reverse (one basket fitting into 

 another). The cover is large enough to enclose all the lower part, and it is 

 into these that they put their earrings, bracelets, garters, beads, hair ribbons, 

 and vermilion (or ochre) with which to paint themselves. (Le Page du Pratz, 

 1758, vol. 2, p. 179, 183-184; Swanton, 1911, p. 62.) 



Among the Chitimacha, thanks to the intelligent and sympathetic 

 interest of Mrs. Sidney Bradford and her sister. Miss Mcllhenny, 

 the basketry of the lower Mississippi type has been preserved down 

 to modern times, modified considerably, of course, but still remark- 

 ably pure. (See Swanton, 1911, pp. 347-353, and a few scanty 

 notices of Caddo mats and baskets in Swanton, 1942, pp. 15()-157.) 



THE COLORING OF MANUFACTURED ARTICLES 



Considerable has already been said regarding the use of dyes in 

 making mats and baskets, particularly by the Creeks, Alabama, and 

 Choctaw. 



In the De Soto narratives we find many references to the use of 

 various colors, plain or in designs, on deerskins, woven cloaks, wood, 

 and feather garments. At Cofitachequi Ranjel observed moccasins 

 and leggings with ties of white leather though the leggings were 

 black, and with fringes or edging of colored leather (Bourne, 1904, 

 vol. 2, p. 100). Mention is made of skins colored red and black 

 (Robertson, 1933, p. 76). The sunshade carried by an attendant 

 of chief Tascalusa attracted particular attention. Ranjel tells us 

 it was ornamented with a white cross on a black ground, and Elv«s 



