e wooden rim was readily identified as a crocodile.
The small baskets in the coiled weave sometimes have the fronts entirely
covered with beads which are woven into the basket in parallel lines.
The tobacco box shown in Plate XXXV has been covered with cloth and
pitch, in which an artistic design made from the yellow cuticle of an
orchid has been inlaid. Plate XXXVb shows the wooden tops of three
tobacco boxes. Nos. 1 and 2 are carved and inlaid with beads and buttons
in designs which "look pretty," but number 3 depicts a hunting scene in
which two men and a dog are hunting the alligator. Several beads are
missing so that it requires quite a stretch of the imagination to secure
the impression the native artist meant to impart.
The prized trinket baskets of the women generally have the fronts
covered with cloth, to which hundreds of colored beads are sewed, in
elaborate designs (Plate XXXVI).
The patterns brought out in the weaving are as beautiful and intricate
as they are confusing. Five typical specimens of cloth used in women's
skirts are shown in Plate XXXVII. In them can be found several
apparently different designs to some of which names were assigned, but
as there was no agreement among my informers I refrain from giving them
here. The pattern marked X in (c) was generally identified as
"alligator," yet the weavers were by no means agreed.
The strip of cloth (Plate XXXVIII) was intended for the center breadth
in a woman's skirt and shows the typical designs employed in the best
garments.
The extensive use of beads is shown in Plates XXXIX-XL. Carrying bags,
clothing, combs, necklaces, armlets, belts and sheath covers are
partially covered with or made up of colored beads, always in designs,
yet very few of these patterns have generally accepted meanings or
names. The same holds true of the designs in shell disks, which, on the
finer garments, take the place of beads. A few exceptions to this are
found in which realistic patterns appear in (Plate XXXIb and Fig. 34).
FIG. 34. REALISTIC PATTERNS IN BEADS AND SHELL DISKS.
Like the bead work, the embroidery and applique found on many garments
are added "to make pretty." Some of this work is quite fine, but in
general that of recent years is either inferior to that found on old
garments or is borrowed from, or made by, the Bila-an women. Some
garments, with designs produced by oversewing before dyeing, are seen
here, but they are recent importations from
|