Class J~T3 °l I 6 Book / T^t - < 1_ L INDIAN BASKETRY These'pages are respectfully dedicated to OTIS T. MASON of the Smithsonian Institution, whose conscientious labors "reveal howjarge a debt the world owes to aboriginal^woman. Indian Basketry. WITH ?6o ILLUSTRATIONS. SECOND EDITION REVISED AND ENLARGED By George Wharton James AUTHOR OF IN AND^'AROUND THE GRAND CANYON— MISSIONS AND MISSION INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA— TOURISTS' GUIDE TO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA- PICTURESQUE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA— SCENIC MOUNT LOWE— NATURE SERMONS, ETC., ETC. HENRY MALKAN, 1 William Street, New York. 1902. MONO BASK.:''--. A3 i . I'.\'.\''),\ , IVH WltUVIXG \SKET. CONTENTS. Preface I. Introduction i o II. Basketry, the Mother of Pottery 17 JsLoj HI- Basketry in Indian Legend 22 rl IV. Basketry in Indian Ceremonial 33 V. Basket Making People . . . 50 VI. Materials Used in Indian Basketry 72 VII. Colors in Indian Basketry 88 VIII. Weaves or Stitches of Indian Basketry 96 IX. Basket Forms and Designs; Their Origin and Relation to Art 119 X. Some Uses of Indian Baskets 145 XI. Various Indian Baskets 169 XII. Symbolism of Indian Basketry 187 (a) Symbolism in Basketry Forms 191 (b) Developement of Symbolism in Basket Designs 194 (c) Imitation and Conventionalization 197 (d) The Birth and Developement of Geometrical Designs 201 (e) Diverse Meanings of Designs 206 (f ) Designs of Animal Origin 208 (g) Designs of Vegetable Origin 212 (h) Designs of Natural Origin 213 (i) Designs of Artifact Origin 215 (j) Baskets With Mixed Designs 216 XIII. The Poetry of Indian Basketry 218 XIV. Baskets to be Prized 224 XV. The Decadence of the Art 226 XVI. How the Art may be Preserved 229 XVII. Hints to the Collector 230 XVIII. Bibliography of Indian Basketry 232 Appendix 234 Index 270 HHHH ILLUSTRATIONS. Fig. Page. Fig. Page. Front, Mono Baskets and Woman 15. Baskets, Coll. of W. D. Campbell.. 21 with Carrying Basket 4 16. Indian Baby Basket 22 1. Havasupai WithKathak 12 ]7 . Cradle of Nevada Utes 22 2. A Poma Basket Maker 9 18 . ]9- Hopi Basket and Weave 24 3. Miss Kate Mabley's Collection — 11 20. Paiuti Water Bottle 24 4. S. California Baskets 14 2 1." Carrying Basket of Hopis! .'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'. 25 5. Choctaw Baskets of Cane 15 2 2. Hopi Basket of Yucca 26 6. Havasupai Roasting Tray 17 2 3. Apache Basket Bottle 28 7. Base-mould for Pottery 17 2 4. Poma Conical Basket 28 J" 9 -^^°- tei ; y „r F ^ r T; •,;•,:• -^ -I:"" 11 2R - Havasupai Making Basket 29 10. Original Method of Making Pottery 18 26 . Poma Pounding Acorns 30 11. Base-mould for Coiled Pottery.... 19 27 Sacred Baskets of Navahoes, etc.. 32 12. First Form of Vessel 19 2S . Yokut Baskets (Plimpton Coll.)... 32 13. Secondary Form of Vessel 20 29. Navaho Sacred Basket 34 14. Finished Vessel 20 30. Circle of Meal 35 lUM 3 Fig-. Page. 31. Antelope Altar 38 32. Do., Showing Kohonino Basket... 39 33. Praying at Shrine 39 34. Hopi Basket (Spider Web) 40 35. Hopi Sacred Plaque 40 36. Sprinkling Snakes With Meal 41 37. Basket Throwers 43 38. Priest Handing Offerings 43 39. Dance of Basket Bearers 45 40. Struggle for Baskets 45 41. Yolo Ceremonial Basket 46 42. Saboba Basket Maker 49 43. Haida Weaver 51 44. Bottle-neck Basket .'...... 48 45-46. Alaska Baskets (Plimpton Coll.) 52 47. Washington Weaver 54 48. Mono Weaver 54 49. Washington Weaver 55 50. Ornamental Poma Baskets 56 51. Fine Poma Basket 56 52. Yokut Basket (Plimpton Coll.).... 58 53. Poma Basket (Plimpton Coll.) 58 54. Cahulla Basket Maker 60 55. Merced Nolasquez. ......;.....,.. 60 56. Dat-so-la-lee (Washoe) 62 57. Baskets (Burnell Coll.) 64 58. Yokut Baskets (McLeod Coll.).... 64 59. Oraibi Basket Maker 65 60. Hopi Yucca Basket , 65 61. Hopi Sacred Plaque 65 62. Wallapai Basket Maker..... 66 63. Chemehuevi Basket 66 64. Menominis Weaving Mat — 68 65. Elm Splints 67 66. Club or Mallet 67 67. Menomini Kuife 69 68. Coil of Splints 69 69. Finished Menomini Basket 67 69a\ Yokut Girl Weavers 70 70. .Cahuillas Collecting Material 71 71. Slipper Form of Baby Cradle...... 70 72. Cahuilla Coiled Baskets, etc 73 73. Fine California Baskets 74 74. Portion of the Plimpton Coll 75 75. Apache and Pima Baskets 76 76-77. Poma Baskets (Plimpton Coll.) 78 78. Klamath Tray, etc 77 79. Yokut and Poma Baskets (Campbell Coll.) 80 80. Yokut Dance and Other Baskets 82 81. Hopi and Havasupai Baskets 83 82. Apache and Pima Bowls, etc 84 83-84. Bone Awls 86 85. Oraibi Yucca Basket 87 86. Yokut Basket 92 87. Yokut Basket (Plimpton Coll.).... 92 88. Pshu Kan, or Fish Net 94 S9. Bam-tush Weave 95 90. Bam-Tush Granary and Shi-Bu Tray 97 91. North Coast Basket 97 92. Shu-Set and Ti Weaves 98 93. Poma Basket Material 99 94. Baskets in Wilcomb Collection.. 100 95. Shi-Bu Weaves 100 96. Poma Shi-Bu 101 97. Poma Tsai and Bam-tsu-wu 102 98 to 102. Poma Ornamental Shibu....l03 . 103. Yokut, Poma and Eel River Baskets.. 104 104. Pauma Granary, etc 105 105. Apache Basket (Plimpton Coll.).. 106 106. Apache Water Bottle 106 107. Hopi Weaver.. 108 108. Kuch-ye-amp-si, Hopi Weaver... 109 Fig. Page. 109. Inch Weave of Hopi Tray 110 110. Basket and Lid from Egypt Ill 111. Square Inch of Fig. 110 110 112. Qnornamented Oraibi Plaque 112 113. One Inch of Fig. 112 112 114. Oraibi Sacred Meal Tray 113 115. Hopi Carrying Basket 114 117. Zuni Carrying- Basket 115 118. Seminole Basket 115 119. Washoe Basket 116 120. Pima Basket (Plimpton Coll.).... 117 .121. California Basket (do.) 117 122. So'n Cal. Basket, Used as Drum 118 122a. Bottle-Neck Basket. (McLeod Col- lection) .'. 118 123. Southern California Baskets 119 124. Pueblo Sleeping Mat 120 125. Havasupai Water Bottle 120 126. Yakima Basket 121 127-8-9. Simple Weaves (One Color)... 122 130. Herring Bone Effect 123 131. Elaboration, Herring Bone Effect 123 132. Peruvian Work Basket 124 133. Simple Twined Weave 123 134. Clallam Carrying Basket 125 135-6-7. Various Surface Effects 126 138. Open Work Tray (Klamath) 127 139. Klamath Carrying Basket 127 140. Simple Reticulated Weave 128 141. Simple Variations 128 142. Further Variation 128 143! Apache Basket With Pendants... 129 144. Cal. Basket With Pendants 129 145-6. Use of Colored Strands 130 147. Isolated Figures 130 148. Alternations of Fillets. 131 149. Conventional Human Figures..... 131 150. Base of Coiled Basket 132 151. Coiled Northwest Basket.......... 132 152. Yokut Basket Ib3 153. Pima Basket ',... 133 154. Pima Coiled Basket 134 155. McCloud Carrying Basket 136 156. Apache Coiled Basket.... ,. 135 157. Oraibi Sacred Tray 136 158. Oraibi Do 137 159. Light Fillets Wrapped 138 160. Klamath Work. 138 161-2. Ornamental California Baskets 139 163. Conventional Figures 140 164. Figures on Yokut Basket 139 165. Human Figure on Oraibi Tray... 140 166. Figure of Bird on Hopi Tray 142 167. Do. on Oraibi Tray 142 167a. Yokut Woman Carrying Load of BYuit 143 168. Tule Weaver Using Sifter 144 169. Granaries of S. Cal. Indians 144 170. Cahuilla, Saboba, etc., Baskets.. 145 171. Primitive Fish Weir 146 172. Basket of Thompson Indians 147 173. Poma With Wood Basket 148 174. Zuni Toy Cradle and Doll 14» 175. Poma Mother With Child 150 176. Poma Woman With Carrying Basket 150 177-8-9. Hupa Cradle Basket 151 180-1. Pyramid Lake Ute Cradle 161 182-3-4. Hopi Wicker Cradles 152 185-6-7. Siamese Carrying Basket 153 188-9. Carrying Basket of Arikarees.. 153" 190-1-2. Choctaw Carrying Basket 154 193-4-5. Conical Carrying Basket 154 196-7. Mc Cloud Do 155- 198. Poma Carrying Wood 156 Fig. Page. 199. Hupa Forehead Pad 155 200-1-2. Paiuti Seed Basket and Wand 156 203. Washoe Water Bottle 157 204. Washoe Food Basket 15? 205-6. Carrying Nets 158 207-8. Apache Carrying Basket 157 209-10. Hopi or Zuni Carrying Crate... 159 211-12. Diegeno Carrying Basket 159 213-14. Mohave Carrying Basket 160 215. Congo Carrying Basket 161 216. Zuni Basket Water Bottle 161 217. Navaho Do 160 218. Havasupai Boiling Basket 162 219-20-21. Manufacture of Spirally Coiled Weaves 162 222. Method of Making Havasupai Water Bottles 163 223-4. Pueblo Carrying Mats 163 225. Using Do 163 226. Hopi House Interior 164 227. Saucer Shaped Basket 165 228. Ornamented Apache Bowl 166 229-30. Point Barrow Baskets 167 231. Large Granary 168 232. Klamath Twined Basket 169 233. Square Inch of Fig. 232 170 234. Hoochnom Coiled Basket 171 235. Square Inch of 234 170 236. Yokut Basket Bowl 171 237. Cahuilla Do 173 238. Square Inch of Fig. 237 172 239. Inside View of Fig. 237 174 240. Cahuilla Basket Bowl 174 241. Coiled Jar (Zuni) 173 242. Square Inch of Fig. 241..' 175 243. Pima Basket Bowl 176 244. Pima Basket (Lightning Symbols) 176 245. Do. (Greek Design) 175 246. Apache Basket Bowl 177 247. Garotero Apache Bowl 177 248. Paiuti Mush Basket 177 249. Paiuti Basket 178- 250. Ute Basket Hat 179 251. Square Inch of Fig. 250 178 252. Paiuti Roasting Tray ISO 253. Paiuti Carrying Basket 180 254. Paiuti Harvesting Wand 181 255. Makah Basketry 181 256-7-8. Makah Bottle Basket 182 259. Clallam Bird Cage Weave 183 260. Clallam Carrying Basket 1S4 261. Square Inch of Fig. 260 183 262. Makah Trinket Basket 1S4 263. Square Inch of Fig. 262 185 264. Angola Carrying Crate 185 265. Haida Hat 1S5 266. Do 186 267. Do., Before Painting 186 268. Basket Used in Dice Games 185 269. Do 223 270. Yokut Heart-Shaped Basket. 188 271. Baskets Depicting Human Figures 188 272. S. Cal. Baskets 190 273. Cahuilla Baskets 190 274. Baskets Spoiled by Vicious Imitation 192 275. Yokut Basket with Crosses 192 276-7-8. Typical Basket Decorations.. 193 279-280. Do 195 281-282. Pottery Designs 196 284. Pottery Design from Basketry... 198 285-6. Salish Design 198 287. Hartt's Fret Theory 199 288. Hartt's Scroll Theory 202 Fig. - Page. 289. . Scrolls on Pottery 199 290. Pottery Scroll on Basketry 202 291. Fret of Pottery 199 292. Havasupai Design 203 293-4. Amazon Fret and Zigzag 203 295. Geometrical Spiral on Apache Basket 204 296. Do. on Pottery | 205 297. Baskets in Campbell Collection.. 207 298. Salish Basketry 207 299. Salish Basketry 208 300. Tree and Branch Design 208 301. Mescal Design 208 302. Fish and Leaf Design 208 303. Worm Track Design 208 304. Da-so-la-le's Masterpiece 209 305. Poetic Saboba Design 217 306. Design of Flying Bats 217 307. Ramona and Star Basket 221 30S. Wainwright Collection 221 309. Fish Teeth Design 234 310. Earthworm Design 2§4 311. Quail Design 236 312. Flying Geese Design 235 313. Duck's Wing Design 236 314. Millipede Design 236 315. Raccoon Design 236 316. Grasshopper Design 236 317. Bye Design... 237 318. Flower Design 237 319. Brake Design 238 320. Brake Design 238 321. Vine Design 238 322. Pine Cone Design 238 323. Bush Design 239 324. Feather Design 239 325. Feather Design 240 326. Feather Design 239 327. Feather Design 240 328. Arrow Point Design 240 329. Arrow Point Design 241 330. Mountains and Clouds Design.. 241 331. Cahuilla Weaver :.... 242 332. Pima Weaver 243 333. Pima Baskets (Benham Coll.)... 243 334. Apache Baskets (Benham Coll.) 245 335. Apache Basket (Benham Coll.) 245 336. Pima, Apache and Paiuti Baskets (Benham Coll.) 246 337. Various Baskets in Benham Coll 246 338. Baskets (mostly Oraibi) (Benham Coll.) 246 339. California Baskets (Benham Coll.) 248 340. Dat-so-la-le 248 342. Mono Flour Sifters 252 343. Mono Baskets 253 344. Mono Mush Baskets 252 345. Mono Baskets (Rattlesnake Design) 254 346. Hill Collection 256 348. Aleut Baskets (Frohman Coll.).. 258 349. Yakutat Baskets (Frohman Coll.) 260 350. Calif. Baskets (Frohman Coll.).. 262 351. Yokut. Klikitat, Haida and Aleut Baskets (Frohman Coll.) 262 322. Potlach Hats (Frohman Coll.)... 262 353. Klikitat Weavers 8 354. Skokomish Baskets (Frohman Coll.) 264 355. Thompson River Baskets (Frohman Coll.) 264 356. Baby Baskets 265 357. Various Baskets (Frohman Coll.) 265 358. California Baskets (Frohman Coll.) 266 359. Various Baskets (Frohman Coll.) 268 360. Mehesy's Store 277 361. Mehesv's Store 279 PREFACE. What would be the civilized man of to-day without the art of weaving'— the soft art that surrounds his home with comforts and his life with luxuries? Nay he deems them necessities. Could he do without his woven woollen or cotton underwear, his woven socks, his woven clothing? Where would be his bed linen and blankets, his carpets, his curtains, his portieres? His every day life is so inti- mately associated with weaving that he has ceased to think about it, and yet it is all owing to the work of primitive, aboriginal woman that he is thus favored. For there is not a weave of any kind, no matter how intricate or involved, that the finest looms of England or America produce to-day under the direction of the highest mechanical genius, that was not handed down to us, not in crude form, but as perfect as we now find it, by our savage ancestry in their basketry and kindred work. FIG. A POMA BASKET MAKER AT WORK. Interest in the arts and industries of our aboriginal tribes has grown so rapidly in recent years, that whereas, twenty years ago, illustrative collections of the products of these arts and industries were confined to the museums of scientific societies, to-day they are to be found in scores of private homes. This popular interest has created a demand for knowledge as to the peoples whose arts these collections illustrate, and of the customs, — social, tribal, medicinal, religious, — in which the products of their arts are used. One of the most common and useful of the domestic arts of the Amerind* is that of basketry. It is primitive in the extreme, is uni- versal, both as to time and location, and as far as we know has changed comparatively little since the days of its introduction. It touches the *This is a new coinage by Major J. W. Powell, of the U. S. Bureau of Ethnology, to designate the North American aborigine. 10 INDIAN BASKETRY. Amerind at all points of his life from the cradle to the grave, and its products are used in every function, domestic, social and religious, of his simple civilization. To give a little of such knowledge as the intelligent collector of Indian baskets desires to possess is the purpose of this unpretentious book. Its field is limited to the Indians of the South-west, the Pacific States and Alaska. It is an incomplete pioneer in an unoccupied field of popular literature, and later writers will doubtless be able to add much, and correct more. It is the result of twenty years personal observation and study among the Indians of our South-west, much correspondence and questioning of authorities, and the reading and culling from every known source of information. Everything that I could find that seemed reliable has been taxed. Necessarily, no one individual could possibly describe, with accuracy, the basketry of this extensive territory unless he were prepared to travel over the vast regions of the North-west and South-west, and personally visit each tribe of basket-makers, watch them gather the grasses, collect the dyes, prepare both for use, dye the materials, and go through all the labor of weaving, then study the symbolism of the designs, learn all about the ancient methods of manufacture, and, finally, visit all family, social and ceremonial functions where baskets are used. Hence, it is evident that such a work must be, as this confessedly is, largely a compilation. If collectors find it at all helpful or suggestive ; if it aids in popu larizing knowledge on these interesting products of our aboriginal peoples, and leads to a study of the peoples themselves I shall be more than repaid for the time and labor expended in its production. For material aid, I wish most cordially to thank Major J. W. Powell, Dr. J. Walter Fewkes and Professor F. W. Hodge, of the U. S. Bureau of Ethnology, and the Hon. S. P. Langley, Professors Otis T. Mason, W. H. Holmes and Dr. Walter Hough, of the Smith- sonian Institution, together with Dr. J. W. Hudson, of Ukiah, Cal., and Rev. W. C. Curtis, of Norwalk, Conn. The engravings of the Government have been placed at my disposal, and many of the detailed descriptions of the baskets are taken verbatim from Professor Mason's papers which appear in the reports of the. Smithsonian Institution. My thanks are also extended to Mr. W. W. Newell, of the American Folk Lore Society, Dr. J. H. Kellogg, Editor of Good Health, Apple- ton's Popular Science Monthly, and the Traveler, San Francisco, for the use of cuts and especially to F. S. Plimpton, Esq., of San Diego, Cal., who has kindly made it possible for me to illustrate several most interesting specimens of his excellent collection. PASADENA, CALIFORNIA. INTRODUCTION. II CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. A few hundred years ago our own ancestors were "aborigines,"— they wore skins for clothes ; wove baskets ; lived in wicker and skin huts or in caves ; ate nuts, herbs, acorns, roots and depended upon the fortunes of the chase for their meats, just as the Amerind of the present and past generations are doing and have done. Hence, as Indian baskets are woven by human beings, akin to ourselves, and are used by them in a variety of relations of intensely human interest, we are studying humanity under its earliest and simplest phases, such phases as were probably manifested in our own ancestral history — when we intelligently study Indian Basketry. The earliest vessels used bv mankind undoubtedly were shells, broken gourds or other natural receptacles that presented themselves FIG. COLLECTION OF Ml KB KATE MABLEY OF DETROIT. MADE IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. opportunely to the needs of the aborigine. As his intelligence grew and he moved from place to place, the gourd as a receptacle for water when he crossed the hot and desert regions became a necessary com- panion. But accidents doubtless would happen to the fragile vessel and then the suggestion of strengthening it by means of fiber nets arose and the first step towards basket-making was taken. It is easy INDIAN BASKETRY. INTRODUCTION. t3 to conceive how the breakage of a gourd thus surrounded by a rude sustaining or carrying net led to the independent use of the net after the removal of the broken pieces, and thus nets ultimately would be made for carrying purposes without reference to any other vehicle. Weaving once begun, no matter how rough or crude, improvement wis bound to follow, and hence, the origin of the basket. In Indian basketry we may look and find instruction as_ to the higher development of our primitive people. There is no question that baskets preceded pottery-making and the close and fine weaving of tex- tures, so the ethnologist finds in "the progressive steps of their manu- facture a preparatory training for pottery, weaving and other primitive arts." Basket-making- was a common industry with all the Indians of the American Continent. In the North, baskets were, and still are, made, ana we know of their manufacture by the Indians of Carolina, Virginia, Georgia and Lousisiana. Baskets have also been found among the remains of the Mound Builders. In the ruins of Southern Colorado and that interesting region of Arizona and New Mexico, some of the prehistoiic graves contain so many baskets as to give their occupants the name of "The Basket Makers." "There are no savages on earth so rude that they have no form of basketrv. The birds and beasts are basket-makers, and some fishes construct for themselves little retreats where they may hide. Long before the fire-maker, the potter, or even the cook, came the mothers of the Fates, spinning threads, drawing them out and cutting them off. Coarse basketry or matting is found charred in very ancient sepulchers. With few exceptions women, the wide world over, are the basket-makers, netters and weavers."— Otis T. Mason. Of the antiquity of baskets there can be little doubt. Col. James Jackson, U. S. A., says: "Pottery making and basket weaving are as old as the human race. As far back as there are any relics of humanity are found the traces of these industries, supplying no doubt a very positive human need. From the graves of the mound builders, from Etruscan tombs — far beyond the dawn of Roman power— from the ruins of Cyclopean con- struction, Chaldean antiquities and from Egyptian catacombs come the evidences of their manufacture. Aboriginal occupation of the American continents seems to be as old, if not older, than that of either Europe or Asia, and when we look upon the baskets and pottery gathered here we behold the results of an industry that originated in the very dawn of human 'existence and has been continued with but • little change down to the present time. Our word basket has itself changed but little from its original, the Welsh "basgawd" meaning literally a weaving or putting together of splinters. The ancient Welsh, or Britons, were expert basket makers, and Roman annals tell us'that the halls of wealthy Roman citizens were decorated with the beautiful and costly produce of their handiwork. Made from what- ever substances were most appropriate or convenient they have been shaped by the needs and decorated by the fancy or superstitions of barbaric or semi-civilized peoples, and have served all purposes from plates to dwelling houses." "Among primitive arts, basketry also furnishes the most striking illustration of the inventive genius, fertility of resource and almost H INDIAN BASKETRY. incredible patience of the Indian woman. They collected the fuel, gathered the stores of acorns, mesquite and other wild seeds; they dried the grasshoppers for winter use. In times of scarcity they searched every hiding of fat grub or toothsome bulb ; or with a tough stick drove the angle worms from their holes and with the addition of a few wild onions and acorn flour converted the mess into an appe- tizing soup. They made petticoats of title and other wild grasses for summer use, and winter garments of rabbit and squirrel skins. And while all these accomplishments added to the market value of the women, it was invariably the most expert in basketry who brought the highest price, viz. : two strings of shell money, or one hundred dollars." — Mrs. Jeanne C. Carr. Indian basketry is almost entirely the work of Indian women, and, therefore, its study necessarily leads us into the sanctum-sanctorum PIG. 4. SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA BASKETS. of feminine Indian life. The thought of the woman, the art develop- ment, the acquirement of skill, the appreciation of color, the utilization of crude material for her purposes, the labor of gathering the mate- rials, the objects she had in view in the manufacture of her baskets, the methods she followed to attain those objects, her failures, her successes, her conception of art, her more or less successful attempts to imitate the striking objects of Nature with which she came in con- tact, the aesthetic qualities of mind that led her to desire to thus repro- INTRODUCTION. 15 duce or imitate Nature— all these, and a thousand other things in the Indian woman's life, are discoverable in an intelligent study of Indian basketry. One has but to study the history of all industrial, as distinguished from military, occupations, to see how honored a position woman has won by her indomitable energy, constant industry and keen witted- ness. Those fools of the male sex who sneer at the "uselessness of woman" merely reveal their supernal ignorance of what man owes to woman in the industrial arts and sciences. Her work, from the very earliest ages of human history, has tended towards the health, the comfort, the knowledge and the culture of mankind. She has not been merely the wife, the mother, the nurse of man, but the teacher in many arts which man now proudly and haughtily claims as his own "sphere." And one of the foremost of these industrial arts is that of weaving — purely a product of woman's wit and skill. As Dr. Otis T. Mason has FIG. 5. CHOCTAW BASKETS OF CANE. COLLECTION OF MRS. MARCUS BENJAMIIN eloquently written : "A careful study of the homely occupations of savage women is the best guide to their share in creating the aesthetic arts. Whether in the two Americas, or in the heart of Africa, or among the' peoples of Oceania, the perpetual astonishment is not the lack of ?rt, but the superabundance of it." "Call to mind tMk exquisite sewing of the Eskimo woman with sinew thread and needle of bone, or the wonderful basketry of all the It) INDIAN BASKETRY. American tribes, the' bark work of Polynesia, the loom work of Africa, the pottery of the Pueblos, of Central America and Peru. Compare these with the artistic productions of our present generation of girls and women at their homes. I assure you the comparison is not in favor of the laborers' daughters, but of the daughters and wives of the degraded savage. In painting, dyeing, moulding, modelling, weaving and embroidering, in the origination first of geometric pat- terns and then of freehand drawing, savage women, primitive women, have won their title to our highest admiration." Compare the basketry of women with that of men. Go into any basket shop of the modern civilized world and pick up the ugly and homely, though useful, objects called baskets, and place them side by side with the products of the savage woman's art and skill. Every lover of beautiful work, of artistic form, beautiful design and delicate color cannot fail to be struck with the highest admiration at the sight of the latter, while the former are tolerated only for their usefulness. To the uninitiated a fine Indian basket may posses a few exterior attractions, such as shapely form, delicate color and harmonious design, but anything further he cannot see. On the other hand the initiated sees a work of love ; a striving after the ideal ; a reverent propitiation of supernatural powers, good or evil ; a nation's art ex- pression, a people's inner life of poetry, art, religion; and thus he comes to a closer knowledge of the people it represents, a deeper sympathy with them ; a fuller recognition of the oneness of human life, though under so many and diverse manifestations. Fine baskets, to the older Indian women, were their poems, their paintings, their sculpture, their cathedrals, their music; and the civilized world is just learning the first lessons of the a/boriginal melodies and harmonies in these wicker-work masterpieces.. What Victor Hugo strikingly expressed about the cathedrals of Europe when he exclaimed "The book has killed the building !" could be truthfully applied to the Indian in the expression "Civilization has killed the basket." For as the Indian woman finds that she can purchase for a few cents the pans, pots and kettles used by her civilized sister she loses the desire to spend weary days, and even months, in making the baskets, which, in the past, served alone as her domestic utensils. Consequently basket making as a fine art among the aborigines is rapidly dying out. True, there are' still many baskets made, and on a recent trip to the High Sierras of California I found a number of first-class basket makers at work, and, more pleasing still, some of the young girls were learning the art. But in almost every case the basket maker of to-day is dominated by a rude commer- cialism rather than by the desire to make a basket which shall be her best prized household treasure as the highest expression of which she is capable of the art instinct within her. Hence the rage for old baskets. A true collector does not wish a basket made to sell, and as the old baskets were comparatively limited in number, the oppor- tunity to secure them is rapidly passing away, if it has not already disappeared. By this, of course, I do not mean that old baskets may not be purchased. Collections now and then are for sale, which are rich in rare old specimens of the weaver's art; and occasionally, but, now, alas, very occasionally, the indefatigable collector may pick up an ancient basket in some far-away Indian hut. BASKETRY THE MOTHER OF POTTERY. 17 CHAPTER II. BASKETRY THE MOTHER OF POTTERY. That the art of basketry antedates the art of pottery is generally conceded. In an interesting monograph published in the reports of the Bureau of Ethnology, Mr. dishing urges that pottery was sug- FIG. 6. HAVASUPAI CLAY-LINED ROASTING-TRAY. gested by the clay lined basketry of the Havasupai Indians in Arizona. In 1887, when he visited them, he found them doing the cooking of •their seeds, mush, meat, etc., in wicker baskets lined with sandy clay, and thus describes the method followed : FIG. 7 BASKET-BOWL AS BASE-MOULD FOR POTTERY. "A round basket tray, either loosely or closely woven, is evidently coated inside with clay, into which has been kneaded a very large INDIAN BASKETRY. proportion of sand, to prevent contraction and consequent cracking from drying. This lining of clay is pressed into the basket as closely as possible with hands, and then allowed to dry. See Fig. 6. The tray is thus made ready for use. The seeds or other substances to be parched are placed inside of it, together with a quantity of glowing wood coals. The operator, quickly squatting, grasps the tray at opposite edges, and by a rapid spiral motion up and down, succeeds in keeping the seeds and coals constantly shifting places, and turning over as they dance after one another around and around the tray, mean- while blowing or puffing the embers with every breath to keep them free from ashes and glowing at their hottest." A few years later when I '.made my first visits to the Havasupais I found the same methods still in vogue. It is readily apparent that the constant heating of the clay lining would cause it to grow hard, and instances would occur when it would become detached from the wicker work and a perfect earthen roasting vessel be produced. The occasional production of such a vessel, suitable in all ways and for all uses in cookery, would suggest the manufacture of similar serviceable utensils. Professor Holmes says : "The clay vessel is an intruder, and usurps the place and appropriates the dress of its predecessor in wicker. The forms illustrated in Figs. 8 and 9 are clay forms, common with South Western Indians, and are undoubtedly taken from basketry shapes as illustrated in the water bottles and carrying baskets, shown elsewhere." FIG. S. FIG. 9. FIG. 10. That basketry was intimately connected with two distinct methods of pottery-making is proven by the clearest evidence. In the Miss- issippi Valley, in Arizona, New Mexico and elsewhere in the United States thousands of pieces of pottery have been found which unmis- takably show that the soft clay was modelled around the outside or within some basket form which gave the shape of the vessel. In all the museums these specimens of pottery may be found. It will be observed in studying them that they bear far more impressions of basketry and other textile arts than of natural objects, such as gourds, shells, etc. It is also observable that every basketry stitch or pattern known to the aborigines is found in these pottery impressions. Hence the natural inferences that basketry antedates pottery, and that the art of basket-making was in an advanced stage whilst pottery was still in its infancy. How fascinating the work of the antiquarian and archaeologist. To pick up even the fragments of the pottery of a long past age, brush off the accumulated dirt and read thereupon the relation its manu- BASKETRY THE MOTHER OP POTTERY. l 9 facture bore to a sister art, and then, slowly but surely, to decipher every method followed by primitive artist-; to tell how spinner, weaver, net maker worked, and with what materials, and then to discover that every stitch of plain weaving, diaper weaving, twined weaving and coiled weaving known to modern art was used by these ignorant and savage people of the dark ages. Mr. Cushing thus describes the process of manufacture as he saw it carried on, and as I have seen it again and again, at Zuni, Laguna, Acoma and the Hopi pueblos. Forming a rope of soft clay, she coiled it upon a center, to form the bottom. Placing it upon an inverted food-basket, bowl-shaped, she pressed the coils of clay closely together, one upon the other (Fig. 10), and as soon as the desired size was attained, loosened the bowl from the basket and thus provided herself with a new utensil. In conse- quence of the difficulty experienced in removing these bowl-forms from the bottom of the baskets — which had to be done while they were still plastic, to keep them from cracking — they were very shallow. Hence the specimens found among the older ruins and graves are not only corrugated outside, but are also very wide in proportion to their height. PIG. 11. BASKET BASE MOLD FOR COILED POTTERY. FIG. 12. FIRST FORM OF THE VESSEL. The other primitive method followed was one that is still practiced by all the pottery makers of the South-west. It is an imitation of basketry methods ; not a moulding upon baskets, but an application of coiled methods of weaving to the manufacture of pottery. Just as the basket weaver wraps one coil upon another, so does the pottery maker take her rope of clay and coil it up as shown in Fig. n. By and by the desire for ornamentation of pottery arose, and from this sprang the discovery of the fact that, while the clay was plastic, the exterior of the vessel could be smoothed with a spatula of bone or gourd, no matter what its size, if supported at the bottom in a basket or other mold so that it could be shifted or turned about without direct handling. See Fig. 7. To smooth such a vessel inside and out required that it have a wide mouth, but, by and by, the potter determined that the mouth must be contracted as much water was spilled in carrying the full ol'la from the spring or river to the house. She still used the basket as a base for her pottery as shown in Fig. 12, and to this desire for a small mouthed olla Cushing claims we owe the beautiful shape of Fig. 13. 20 INDIAN BASKETRY. He says : "One of the consequences of all this was that when large they could not be stroked inside, as the shoulders or uttermost upper peripheries of the vessel could not be reached with the hand or scraper through the small openings. The effect of the pressure exerted in smoothing them on the outside, therefore, naturally caused the upper parts to sink down, generating the spheroidal shape of the jar, one of the most beautiful types of the olla ever known to the Pueblos. At Zuni, wishing to have an ancient jar of this form which I had seen, reproduced, I showed a drawing of it to a woman expert in the manu- facture of pottery. Without any instructions from me beyond a mere statement of my wishes, she proceeded at once to sprinkle the inside of a basket-bowl with sand, managing the clay in the way above cle- FIG. 13. SECONDARY FORM OP THE VESSEL. FIG. 14. FINISHED VESSEL, SHOWING CONTRACTIONS IN DRYING. scribed and continuing the vessel shaping upward by spiral building. She did not at first make the shoulders low or sloping, but rounded or arched them upward and outward. At this I remonstrated, but she gave no heed other than to ejaculate "Wa-na-ni-ana!" which meant "just wait, will you!" When she had finished the rim. she easily caused the shoulders to sink, simply by stroking them — more where uneven than elsewhere — with a wet scraper of gourd until she had exactly reproduced the form of the drawing. She then set the vessel aside in the basket. Within two days it shrank by drying at the rate of about one inch in twelve, leaving the basket far too large. It could hence be removed without the slightest difficulty. (See Fig. 14). baskp:try in indian legend. 21 22 INDIAN BASKETRY. CHAPTER III. BASKETRY IN INDIAN LEGEND. Considering the important place that basketry holds in the life of the Indian, it is to be expected that much legendary lore of one kind or another would be associated with it. And such is the case. Did one have the time and opportunity, he might accumulate a large volume of such legends. A few must here suffice. MacMurray thus writes of the Cosmogony of the Yakimas as it was told to him by one of their great war chiefs : "The world was all water, and Saghalee Tyee was above it. He threw up out of the water at shallow places large quantities of mud, and that made the land. He made trees to grow, and he made a man out of a ball of 'mud FIG. ]6. INDIAN BABY BASKET. CALIFORNIA TRIBE. CHRYSALIS PATTERN. FIG. 17. CRADLE OF NEVADA UTES, SHOWING CALIFORNIAN INFLUENCES. and instructed him in what he should do. When the man grew lone- some, he made a woman as his companion, and taught her to dress skins, and to gather berries, and to make baskets of the bark of roots, which he taught her how to find. "She was asleep and dreaming of her ignorance of how to please BASKETRY IN INDIAN LEGEND. J man, and she prayed to Saghalee Tyee to help her. He breathed on her and gave her something that she could not see, or hear, or smell, or touch, and it was preserved in a little basket, and by it all the arts of design and skilled handiwork were imparted to her descendants This Yakima chief then, in order that Mrs. MacMurray might be inspired likewise, presented her husband with a very ancient drum- shaped basket, about two and one half inches in diameter which is now most carefully preserved among other baskets in the MacMur- ray home at Princeton, N. J. According to Washington Matthews the Navahoes have many legends with which baskets are connected. Here is a description of the first baby baskets ever made. Surely none but a poetic and imaginative people could ever have conceived so wonderful a basket. Their gods of war were born of two women, one fathered by the sun, the other by a waterfall and when they were born they were placed in baby baskets both alike as follows: Ine foot-rests and the back battens were made of sunbeam, the hoods of rainbow, the side-strings of sheet lightning, and the lacing strings of zigzag lightning. One child they covered with the black cloud, and the other with the female rain. Another form of this story says that the boy born first was wrapped in black cloud. A rainbow was used for the hood of his basket and studded with stars. The back of the frame was a parhelion, with the brio-ht spot at its bottom shining at the lowest point. Zigzag lightning was laid in each side and straight lightning down the middle in, front. Niltsatlol (sunbeams shining on a distant rainstorm) formed the fringe in front where Indians now put strips of buckskin. The carry-straps were sunbeams. ,11 * It has often been stated that the Navahoes make no baskets, yet in the light of the following legend it would certainly appear that they were basket-makers from the earliest ages. Doubtless the art has suf- fered a great decline, and it is true that but few Navaho women now practice it. Yet I have myself seen them at work and while thus occupied have succeeded in photographing them. This legend is of one of their maidens who made baskets, She was wooed by the Coyote, whose life principle was not in his chest where it would be easy to destroy it, but in the tip of his nose and the end of his tail The Covote had slain the Great Wolf but the maiden refused to marry him unless he had first been slain four times and four times had come back to life. Coyote allowed the maid to beat him with a great club until she thought him dead. Then she went to her basket- making. She was engaged in making four baskets at the time, but had not worked long before Coyote came back. Again she beat him with the club so that his body was hacked into pieces and again she returned to her basketry, only to find Coyote shortly by her side saying "Twice you have slain me and I have come back to life." ,.,11 -^ 1 Once again she sought to slay him but failed to kill the vital prin- ciple and so she had only succeeded in taking a few stitches in the work when Coyote was back again. This time she smashed him all to pieces and mixed him with eartn and ground him to powder and then scattered the powder in every direction But, after considerable trouble, Coyote managed to gather 24 INDIAN BASKETRY. together his scattered corpus and returned to his basket making maiden, who soon thereafter became his wife. From another legend, however, we learn that it was a family or clan called Dsiltlani, who joined the Navahoes in the early days of the nation's history, who taught their women how to make wicker water- bottles, carrying baskets, etc. Yeitso, the tallest, fiercest, and most dreadful of the alien gods of the Navaho never travelled without carrying a basket. Yeitso was a singular being, born a monster at a time when the Navaho men and women were living apart. During this period of separation both sexes indulged in evil and vile practices and Yeitso was the fruit of the evil doing of his mother. He was slain by two mythical heroes who took his scalp and broken arrows to their home in his own basket. The Navahoes have an interesting legend which they connect with the. carrying basket, Pig. 18. In the early days of the world's history one of their mythical heroes was seized by a flying monster and carried up to a dangerous ledge on a high mountain in New Mexico. He suc- PIG. 20. PAIUTI WATER BOTTLE. THE TUSJEH OP THE NAVAHO. PIGS. 18 AND 19. HOPI BASKET AND METHOD OP WEAVE. ceeded in killing the monster and its mate but was unable to get down from his perilous position. Just then he saw the Bat Woman (one of the mythical characters of the Navahoes) walking along the base of the cliff. After a good deal of persuasion she consented to come up and carry him down in her basket, but she required that he should close his eyes before she did so. Before he closed his eyes he saw that the large carrying basket was held upon her back by strings as thin as those of a spider's web. "Grandmother," he said, "I fear to enter your bas- ket ; the strings are too, thin." "Have no fear," she replied, "I have carried a whole deer in this basket; the strings are strong enough to bear you." Still he hesitated and still she assured him. The fourth time BASKETRY IN INDIAN LEGEND. ^5 that he expressed his fear she said : "Fill the basket with stones and you will see that I speak the truth." He did as he was bidden and she danced around with the loaded basket on her back ; but the strings did not break, though they twanged like bowstrings. When he entered the basket she bade him keep his eyes shut until they reached the bottom of the cliff, as he must not see how she managed to descend. He shut his eyes and soon felt himself gradually going down ; but he heard a strange flapping against the rock, which so excited his curiosity that he opened his eyes. Instantly he began to fall with dangerous rapidity, and the flapping stopped ; she struck him with her stick and bade him close his eyes. Again he felt himself slowly descend- ing, and the flapping against the rock began. Three times more he disobeyed her, and the last time they were near the bottom of the cliff, and both fell to the ground unhurt. FIG. 21. THE HO-A-PUH OR CARRYING BASKET OF THE HOPIS AND NAVAHOES. As soon as they reached the ground the hero and the Bat Woman plucked the feathers of the winged monsters and placed them in the basket. Before the hero left the Bat Woman he cautioned her not to pass through two particular regions, one of which was overgrown with weeds and the other with sunflowers. The Bat Woman failed to heed the warning and as she walked along through the sunflowers she heard a rustling behind her, and, turning,, saw the feathers changing into birds of strange appearance and varying plumage and all swarm- ing out of her basket. She tried to hold them in, to catch them as they flew out, but all in vain. She laid down her basket and watched, helplessly, her feathers changing into little birds of all kinds, wrens, warblers, titmice and the like, all flying away until her basket was empty. Thus it was that the little birds were created. In the Chaco Canyon in Northern New Mexico are a number of • interesting cliff-dwellings or pueblo houses. In the early days they were inhabited by the Pueblo people. One day a war eagle was seen floating in the sky. The Pueblos much desired the feathers of the eagle, so they watched where the bird alighted. When they found the 26 INDIAN BASKETRY. nest it was in a cleft on the face of a precipice and inaccessible unless one were lowered in a basket. None of the young men of the Pueblos was willing to risk his life in the attempt and they finally persuaded a poor Navaho, afterwards named Kinniki, to make the effort on their behalf. A great, strong carrying basket was made, somewhat after the style of Fig. 21, and the Navaho got inside it and was lowered to the eagle's nest. He was told to drop the eagles to the ground below, but the Wind whispered to him that the Pueblos were his enemies and he had better not obey their behests. He heeded the warning of the Wind and called out to those above : "Swing the basket so that it may come nearer to the cliff. I cannot reach the nest unless you do/' So they caused the basket to swing to and fro and when it touched the cliff the Navaho stepped out leaving the empty basket swinging in the air. FIG. 22. IIOPI BASKET; MADE OF YUCCA. Ihe Pueblos were very angry when they found out the trick that had been played upon them, and they tried to kill the Navaho by shoot- ing fire arrows to the nest. For four days he stayed here starv- ing, keeping himself warm at night by sleeping between the two young eaglets. Then the eagles came home and they took him up to the upper world above the sky. He learned all the wonderful songs, prayers, sacrifices and ceremonies of the eagles, which are now practiced by the Navahoes in one of their great rites. Now he returned to earth, and soon thereafter visited the treacher- ous people of Kintyel, upon whom he took a singular and appropriate vengeance. Another typical hero of the Navahoes was Na-ti-nes-thani — He who Teaches Himself. He was a great gambler, and after he had gambled away all his possessions, he left his home for some far away country in the hope of bettering his fortunes. BASKETRY IN INDIAN LEGEND. 2 7 After wonderful adventures he came to the home of a wicked wizard, who was a cannibal, and whose own daughter was also his wife. This vile creature introduced Natinesthani to his daughter as his son-in-law, for he wished him to stay, so that he might slay and eat him. The wizard insisted upon smoking some of his son-in-law's tobacco, but it sent him into a swoon which seemed so like death that his wife and daughter besought Natinesthani to restore him to life. Four times this occurred, then the wizard determined to get rid of his son-in-law. The former induced his daughter to take a sacred basket filled with mush, together with other food, to her husband, in which he had placed poison next to the a-tha-at-lo or finishing point on the rim. By craft the stranger avoided eating the poison, for the Wind People had warned him of it. When his wife presented the basket to him, she said: "When a stranger visits us we always expect him to eat from the part of the basket where it is finished." He replied : "It is my cus- tom to eat from the edge oppposite the point of finish." He thus escaped the poison. When the young woman told her father he saw that he must try again, so the next day he sent his daughter with a dish of stewed ven- ison and a basket full of mush. But as the young man took it the Wind People warned him that there was poison all around the edge of the basket, so this time he ate freely of the stew, but, when he took the basket of mush he said : "When I eat just as the sun is about to come up, it is my custom to eat only from the middle of the basket." The following day both stew and mush were brought him, but as the Wind People whispered to him and told him that poison was mixed all through the mush, he said to his wife : "I may eat no mush to-day. The sun has already risen, and I have sworn that the sun shall never see me eat mush." On the fourth morning the wicked father-in-law poisoned both stew and mush, but being warned as usual by the Wind People, the young man said to his wife: "I do not eat at all to- day. It is my custom to eat no food one day in every four. This is the day that I must fast." After such marvellous proofs of power the old man ceased his attempts for awhile ; but by and by, he was again filled with desire to slay his son. Many were the ruses that he followed, the ambuscades that ne planned, the treacheries he concocted, but Natinesthani evaded them all. Finally he succeeded in obtaining charms which altogether destroyed the wizard's power. Then he told the wizard how he had all ^long known of his nefarious designs, and how he had thwarted them. Fully exposed, the incestuous wizard confessed his wickedness and begged forgiveness and asked his son-in-law to cure him of all his evil. This was done and thus the Feather Chant and Dance were inaugurated which continue to this day as potent ceremonies for the confusion of all the wizards and witches. In the legends which describe in detail the growth of the Navaho nation, the accession of one gens is thus accounted for : "It happened about this time while some of the Tha 'paha were sojourning at Agala, that they sent two children one night to a spring to get water. The children carried out with them two wicker bottles, see Fig. 20, in somewhat the same fashion as pictured in Fig. 23, but returned with four. "Where did you get these other bottles?" the parents inquired. "We took them away from two little girls whom we met at the spring." 28 INDIAN BASKETRY. answered the children. "Why did you do this, and who are the girls?" said the elders. "We do not know. They are strangers," said the little ones. The parents at once set out for the spring to find the strange children and restore the stolen bottles to them; but on the way they met the little girls coming toward the Tha 'paha camp, and asked them who they were. The strange children replied: "We belong to a band of wanderers who are encamped on yonder (moun- tain. They sent us two together to find water." "Then we shall give you a name," said the Tha 'paha; "we shall call you To 'baznaazi — Two Come Together for Water." The Tha 'paha brought the little girls to their hut and bade them be seated. "Stay with us," they said. FIG. 23. APACHE WOMAN PIG. 24. POMA WOMAN CARRYING CARRYING WATER IN BASKET BOTTLE. LOAD IN CONICAL BASKET. "You are too weak and little to carry the water so far. We shall send some of our young men to carry it for you." When the young men found the camp of the strangers they invited the latter to visit them. The Tha 'paha welcomed the newcomers as friends, and told them they had already a name for them, To 'baznaazi. Under this name they became united to the Navahoes as a new gens, and they aire now closely affiliated with Tha 'paha. One of the chief legends of the Hopi is that of Tiyo, the mythical snake hero, and with that is intimately associated the "Ho-a-puh," or carrying basket. (Fig. 21.) Tiyo's father lived on a mountain near the junction of the San Juan and Colorado rivers. The youth was thoughtful and studious and was much puzzled to account for the ever BASKETRY IN INDIAN LEGEND. 29 flowing away of the water of the Colorado river. After long reflection he decided to endeavor to solve the mystery. His father Helped prepare a dry cottonwood tree, hollow it out and thus make a closed boat in which he could sail down the river to the discovery of its secret. To keep him from starving his mother and sister each gave him a po-o-ta, or basket tray made of yucca, (Fig. 22) heaped up with food. It was a dangerous trip but he finally reached the end of the journey. Here he descried a small round hole in the ground, and, hearing a sound, he advanced and was saluted with the cordial greeting "Um- pi-tuh, my heart is glad ; I have long been expecting you ; come down into my house." FIG. 25. HAVASUPAI MAKING BASKET. Under the direction of the Spider Woman, Tiyo visited the under- world and learned all the secret songs, prayers, dances and other ceremonials that are now performed by the snake-antelope fraternity. Then they went to the Sun and learned much from him, and after several day's journeyings returned to the Snake Kiva, where the chief taught him many things and then bestowed upon him two maidens. Said he : "Here are two maidens who know the charm which prevents death from the bite of the rattlesnake ; take them with you, and one you shall give to your younger brother." Four days later Spider Woman made a beautiful hoapuh, around 30 INDIAN BASKETRY. which she fastened a cotton cord, and on the fifth morning she placed Tiyo in it, with a maiden on each side. She then ascended through the hatch and disappeared, but soon a filament descended and attached itself to the cord, and the basket was drawn up to the white clouds, which sailed away to To-ko-na-bi, and there Spider Woman again spun out her filament and lowered the basket to the ground. Tiyo took the maidens to his mother's house, and no stranger saw them for four days, and the two brothers prepared the bridal presents. Tiyo and his brother and the two Snake maidens thus became the progenitors of the Snake and Antelope Clans of the Hopi, who alone perform the thrilling ceremony which I have elsewhere fully de- scribed.* FLG .20. POMA POUNDING ACORNS IN GRANITE MORTAR WITH BASKET TOP. The Havasupais of the Havasu Canyon have a legend that they are descended from a daughter of Tochopa, their good god, who, like Tiyo's father, fastened up his offspring in a hollowed-out tree. But in Tochopa's case it was because Hokomata, the bad god, was about to drown the world. After floating about for many days — so long, indeed, that she grew from a girl to a woman — the log settled at a point not far from the junction of the Little Colorado with the main river. Here, when she emerged from the tree, everything was dark and foggy. Soon she felt the desire for maternity, and, as the sun slowly rose for the first time upon the earth and dispelled the dark- *Scientific American, June 24 and Sept. 9, 1899. Wide World Magazine, Jan. 1900. Outing, June, 1900. BASKETRY IN INDIAN LEGEND. 31 asMooney Fan ifHavasu Canyon. The offspring of tins umon was a daughter. FIG. 2tiA. NAVAHO WATER CARRIERS. so many other weavers in the exercise of the art. 32 INDIAN BASKETRY. PIG. 27. 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