Many years ago the chief industry of the Indian women, aside from
their other domestic duties, was the making of baskets. They made
a great variety of shapes and sizes for their common use, and
also many of a more artistic design and finer finish for the
sacred purpose of being burned or buried with their bodies, or
that of some relative or dear friend, after death. The baskets
devoted to this special purpose are the finest made, but are very
seldom seen by any white person, and are not for sale at any
price. This finest style of work seems to have been made a
specialty by certain of the most artistic workers in each tribe.
[Illustration: MRS. JORGENSEN'S COLLECTION OF BASKETS.
For the mythical origin of basket-making in the Yosemite see
"Legend of To-tau-kon-nu´-la and Tis-sa´-ack."]
At the present time, in their more modern style of living, they
do not require so many baskets, and the industry of making them
is fast on the decline. Some of the old women, however, still
continue to make such as are required for their own use, and a
few others for sale.
Most of the ornamental figures and designs worked into the finest
basketry are symbolical in character, and of so ancient an origin
that Indians of the present day do not know what many of them are
intended to represent. They have simply been copied from time
immemorial, with the idea that they were necessary for the
complete finish and beauty of the article made.
In recent years they sometimes make use of more modern styles of
ornamentation, which they see in print.
[Illustration: _Photograph by Fiske_.
INDIAN BEAD WORK.
Mrs. George Fiske's collection of Yosemite and Pai-ute´ bead
work.]
Many of the young women are now giving their attention to making
fancy bead work, in the form of ornamental belts and hat-bands,
but this is an industry of very modern origin. Some of them are
employed by white people to do laundry and other work, and any
labor of this kind pays them better than making baskets for sale.
Forty years ago a finely made basket could have been bought for
less than ten dollars. At present, if the time spent in getting
and preparing the necessary materials, and in working them into
the basket, were paid for at the same rate per day that a young
woman receives for doing washing in the hotel laundry, or for
private families, it would amount to over one hundred dollars.
Most of the baskets made for domestic use are so closely woven
that they are practically water-tight, and are used for cooking
and similar purposes. Over on the eastern side of the Sierra
Nevada Mountains, near the dry, desert country, the Indians make
some of their baskets in the form of jugs of various sizes. These
are smeared over with a pitch composition, which renders them
perfectly water-tight, and they are used for carrying water when
traveling over those desolate, sandy wastes.