Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-01-02
BASKETS AND BAsKETRY.
The Best Work Done ~ oar North
American Indians
From, the Feto York Courier.

From the heto YOrt courier.
There remains large department oil
basketmaking lore in the work Of barba-
rous people, to whom this art serves mani
fold purposes, and has sometimes reached
great perfection, as can be seen by an eX-
animation Of the very large and complete
collection Of basketry brought together
At the National Museum at Washington.
A study of this series Of specimens
shows that some Of the best makers are "a
be found among our North American In
dams, the most skulful OF whom are those
dwelling on the Northwestern coast. The
Nakahs, for example, VINO live on Cape
Flattery, at the entrance TO the strait OF
Fuca, turn out wide variety, adapted 20
many purposes. The largest, which viii
mold hushel or so, are made Of spruce
roots. or Of cedar tWigs. woven quite
loosely, and much larger at the top than
at the Wedge-lIke bOtt0m-a form as
sumed in order to facilitate carrying IN
them a load held well up on the shoulders
by strap passing across the forehead.
small baskets are made OF bark and
grass, dyed with native vegetable eN-
tracts, or, more lately. with glazing aniline
colors, which never equal the artistic eE-
cellence of the older work. Into some are
woven designs intended TO represent
birds or animals, into others, simple
checks. Small ones are made OF bark, and
OF species Of eel-grass that bleaches
brightly white. The making of mats OF
rushes and shredded cedar bark (out Of
which, also, are knit handsome water
proof clOaks, now growing very rare are
costly) forms large part oil the winter
work Of the squaWs.
NATIVES OF OREGON AND CALIFORNIA.
s tsu.. q 4 .fE Goo
MIA appear to have been almost equally
expert basket-makers though their pro-
auctions are decidedly unlike those q
the British Columbian and Alaskan peo-
pie Just noticed. From willow twig5 and
pine rooms they weave large round mats
for holding acorn -four; various sized,
lattish, squash-shaped baskets, water
tight; deep cOnical ones to be carried on
their backs and others to be used at
pleasure as drinking-cups or skull-caps
Dy the sQuaws the men going bareheaded.
The Yurok Of Northern California are
among the cleyerest wOrkmen. they or
nament their baskets with some ingenui-
ty by weaving in black rOotleJs or bark in
squares diamonds, and ZigZag lines, but
they never attempt to curve, which, II has
been said, marks the transition from bar
barrie to civilized art.
The Mod0c women around Klamath
lake, with conspicuous painstaking.
weave a very pretty trough-shaped baby
basket of fine willows, intended To be set
mp against the wall or to be carried ON the
back. The infant IS dashed perperdiCu-
larly In it, his head covered by the con-
cave upper end of the basket, which over
hangs like a small parasOl, and in some
cases is Rayly decorated. Let a mother
blacken her whole face below the eyes, in
Guiding her nose, shining black, thrust q
gO0se-quill three inches long through the
septum of her nose, don her clOse-ftting
skull cap, and start TO town with her baby
basket dashed to her back, and she feels
the pride Of maternity strong within her.
the little fellow Is wrapped all around
like a mummy, with nothing visible but
his head. and sometimes that is bandaged
back tight, so That be may sleep stand
ing.7
VARIOUS APPLICATIONS or BhsKETRN.
Ia addition to ordinary baskets the
southern CalifOrnians weave gaming
tables, rims for their acorn mortars
which are hOllOws dug IA solid rock A.,
ush traps, and many other applications Of
basketry, which among those tribes
largely replaces the pottery 10 the mould
ing Of which they are deficient, The long
straight grain OF The red bud, split mp into
thread-like splinTs, is the fayorire for
filling in the willow frame work OF Cali
tOrnia basket.
The Pah-U ties. of the Utah and Nevada
dry lands. likewise make greatuse of bas-
kerry. Maj. Powell describes, in his ami
mated way, the service of the c0nical bas-
kets to be seen in the collection IRON that
locality.
The women carry them on their backs
suspended from their foreheads by broad
straps, and with "A smaller Que in the lett
hand and a willow woven fan in the right
they walk among the grasses and sweep
the seed into the smaller basket, which is
empted now and then into tine larger
until 1t is full OF seeds and chad; then
they winnow out the chat and roast the
seeds"
Everywhere from the southern Rockies
to the Pacific, as a glance at the cOllec-
tiOns shows, occur the Jars and bowls OF
varied shape MADE OF willow tightly
woven and pitched so as TO be water
tight. These are not only available as
canteens, but cooking is done in many Of
them. Regular baskets are elsewhere
used as cooking utensils, water being
boiled in them by the immersion of heated
stones, OF by being held over "A fire out Of
reach OF the blaze. The Micmacs of
Nova Scotia made kettles of
birch bark, and the Kutchin
tribes of the Mckenzie river, out OF
iamarack roots, ornamonted as we see
them here) with porcupine quins A
basket OF exceedingly close weaving from
British Guianan viii be observed, so set
m a framework as to serve the purpose Of
a dish; but all the savages along the or
In0co aud Amazon make water-tight bas-
Aets. some similar Jars, once belonging
10 Apache Arizona families viii hold
ten or fifteen gallons Of water, and We're
buried In She ground The baskets of the
Iuns and Moquis are rude benttwig
affairs az might DE expected of SO good
pOtters as they.