s and borders, and finally patterns were worked in contrasting
colors upon the surfaces of the cloths and other materials of like
nature or use.

No other art so constantly and decidedly suggested embellishment and
called for the exercise of taste. It was the natural habitat for
decoration. It was the field in which technique and taste were most
frequently called upon to work hand in hand.

With the growth of culture the art was expanded and perfected, its
wonderful capacity for expression leading from mere bindings to
pretentious borders, to patterns, to the introduction of ideographs,
to the representation of symbols and mythologic subjects, and from
these to the delineation of nature, the presentation of historical and
purely pictorial scenes.

And now a few words in regard to the character of the work and its
bearing upon the geometric system of decoration. As purely
constructive ornamentation has already been presented, I will first
take up that class of superconstructive work most nearly related to
it. In some varieties of basketry certain bindings of the warp and
woof are actually left imperfect, with the idea of completing the
construction by subsequent processes, the intersections being gone
over stitch by stitch and lashed together, the embroidery threads
passing in regular order through the openings of the mesh. This
process is extremely convenient to the decorator, as changes from one
color to another are made without interfering with construction, and
the result is of a closely similar character to that reached by
working the colors in with warp and woof. In a very close fabric this
method cannot be employed, but like results are reached by passing the
added filaments beneath the protruding parts of the bindings and,
stitch by stitch, covering up the plain fabric, working bright
patterns. Fig. 336 is intended to show how this is done. The
foundation is of twined work and the decorating fillets are passed
under by lifting, with or without a needle. This process is
extensively practiced by our west coast tribes, and the results are
extremely pleasing. The materials most used are quills and bright
colored straws, the foundation fabric being of bark or of rushes. The
results in such work are generally geometric, in a way corresponding
more or less closely with the ground work combination.

[Illustration: FIG. 336. Grass embroidery upon the surface of closely
impacted, twined basketry. Work of the northwest