n. And the basket plays an
important part in their legends and folk-lore.

Mrs. Lowe determined to preserve these specimens, as tourists were
rapidly carrying away all they could find of such relics, and soon the
State would be without proofs to tell how the Indian of the past lived
and fed and fought, bought and sold, how he was dressed, and how he
amused himself.

Mrs. Ellen B. Farr, an artist in Pasadena who is famous for her success
in painting the pepper tree and the big yellow poppy, with its reddish
orange line changing toward petal tips to pale lemon, has also devoted
her skill to pictures of such baskets grouped effectually--baskets now
scattered all over the world, each with its own history, its own
individuality, and no duplicate, for no two baskets are ever exactly
similar.

The true way to obtain these baskets is, go a-hunting for them, not buy
them at stores. They are handed down for generations as heirlooms
originally, never intended for sale, and with the needles used in
weaving, made usually of a fine bone from a hawk's wing, and the
gambling dice, are the carefully concealed family treasures. But
sometimes by going yourself to see the aged squaws, or paying one who
is familiar with their ways to explore for you, you may get a rich
return. Baskets are of all sizes, from the little beauties no bigger
than a teacup, woven finely and adorned with beads and bits of dyed
feathers, to the granaries, or the storage baskets, holding half a ton,
nine feet and nine inches in circumference, three feet deep. Mrs. Jewett
showed me a photograph of one of this sort, in which she sat comfortably
seated with her six-foot son and his wife. This had been in use more
than fifty years, and was as fine as ever. Her one hundred and
twenty-eight baskets represent twenty-eight tribes. In regard to the
shapes and designs, the women seem to have copied straight from nature's
patterns, as seen in acorns, pine cones, seed vessels, etc., so they are
truly artists.

Figures of men are sometimes woven in: those with heads on represent the
victorious warriors; those decapitated depict the braves vanquished by
the fighters of their special tribe. An open palm is sometimes seen;
this is an emblem of peace.

Willow wands and stiff long-stemmed grasses are gathered and dried for
these baskets, then woven in coils and increased as they go on, as in a
crochet stitch. It often requires a deal of coaxing and good pay to
secure one of th