Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1892-08-19
ABOUT BASKETS.
THEY WE'RE KNOWN FROM THE
DAWN OF HISTORY.
No Machine Invented to Equal the
Human Hand in Making Them
American Indians Make the
Most Beautiful Baskets.


will take the place of the human hand in
making them. Baskets are still, as they
have always been, works OF art.
Yes, art-in the truest sense OF the
word. Handicraft, dictated by think
ing mind, by sense of fitness, even
beauty, and by au adaptation OF simple
means to an honest end.
In a certain sense baskets may be
ranked with lace and embroidery. That
is. not being manufactured articles
made in factory, their production is
always limited. Baskets are, or ought
to be, expensive, but, unfortunately,
those who work the hardest in their con-
struction are not the best paid. Come
to think Of it, how many OF US really
know anything about basketsa Does it
strike us as strange that, even to-day,
they are mostly made by primitive, not
to saw uncivilized CT heather peoplel
It is safe to say that the Indians of this
continent make the most beautiful baskets
known. The neatness, the originality
and the exquisite taste shown is some
thing wonderful. The variety, too, is
practically boundless. Now, who taught
the unlettered savagesl The Indians are
not usually regarded as a remarkably
clean, industrious or artistic people, but
the baskets tell different story.
The Indians of Maine construct bas-
kets OF fine strips of birch bark, COM
bined with sweet scented grass. Some
times the bark takes picturesque twists
OF curls, forming regular patterns. The
Indians OF New York State, Michigan
and other localities vary the shapes a
little. Some birchbark baskets are
paralelopipedons, Others formed like a
boat or half-melon, still others perfect
circular boxes with lids. Many have
large rings for handles. OF late years
the Indians of New Hampshire have
been accused of coloring their work with
aniline dyes aud destroying its chara2-
tiers; but this disease, alas, has broken
out all over the world, even in Persia
and Japan, as seen in the now degraded
embroideres of these old lands.
The Indians of California, particularly
the Kamaths and Hoopas, have style
peculiarly their own. Their shapes are
perfect bowls or henispheres, with or
without stands. The weave IS exceed
ingly fine and close, 50 much so that
vessel will hold water. The "squaw
caps are worn by the Indian women on
their heads, and are also used as cooking
utensils. The line vegetable, ecru-
tinted fiber Of winch the baskets are
woven may be grasses or strips OF yucca.
The black figures are said to be worked
in with the stalks CT the maidenhair
fern. The brown tints are made by ma
tive dye. The brown, black aud ecru
are woven together in an exquisite, In
definite pattern, suggesting the old
fashioned Venetian carpet of our grand
mothers days. These baskets are very
valuable, the more so after they have
been used. Then they take on much
desired tone, as does a piece of real lace.
The Pima indians of Arizona con.
struct vases and bowls of real classic
shapes. In some Of these dark threads
are introduced to form figures of deer or
other animals. These baskets are mostly
made of fbers of the yucca, either uu
colorec or dyed with a black pig neut.
An interesting specimen in the Academy
of Sciences is a water bottle two feet
high made by an Indian woman who
lived alone on st. Nicholas Island for
eighteen years. She was afterward res
cued by Mr. Nieduera of Santa Barbara.
Alaskan baskets are literally priceless.
1t is to-day next to impossible to see a
fine specimen. The Indians themselves
have learned the great value of their
wares, and the best are eagerly caug hit
up by wealthy collectors. A good
Alaskan basket is as pliable as parch-
ment, and can be spread out or folded
up. The texture is as smooth as cloth.
The tints are ecru except for the dotted
lines on the edge, which are colored
with deep-toned native dyes. The
weave In a general way resembles that
of the klamath baskets, bat it forms
minute diagonal lines instead of squares.
The AIaskans, indeed, are an artistic
people, whose true history is yet to be
written.
The Japanese excel in basket-making.
The name of their shapes is legion. all
are graceful, with scarce an exception,
whether bowl, or plaque, or vase, or
nest, or cylinder. Unfortunately, how
sver, the almond eyed artists are begin
ming to initiate European models. The
material Of which japanese baskets are
made is mostly bamboo. Where stout
splints are required the twinIng twigs of
the wistaris are introduced. The Japan
csc have solved the problem Of making
baskets extremely small. Some will just
Ht oveT the tip of the finger. The
strands are nearly as fine as hair.
The Chinese have but few shapes.
Their best known basket is the large one
used to carry vegetables, and suspended
from a yoke. A small basket made of