Page 99 - TheHopiIndians

MESA FOLK OF HOPILAXD 91
If one should visit the most skilful basket-maker of
the Middle Mesa, Kuchyeampsi, that modest little
woman, might be seen busily at work, and from her a
great deal about the construction of coiled baskets
could be learned. But it would take some time and
patience to find that the grass whose stems she gathers
for the body of the coil is named takashu, which botan
ists know as Hilaria jamesvi, and that the strips which
she sews over and joins the coil are from the leaves
of the useful mohu (Yitcca glauca) .
Then when Kuchyeampsi comes home laden with
her basket materials one must take further lessons in
stripping the yucca leaves, splitting them with the
thumb-nail to uniform size, and dyeing some of them
various colors, for which anilines are principally used
in these degenerate days. One must have an eye for
the colors of the natural leaves of the yucca and select
the yellow or yellowish green of the old leaves, the
vivid green of the young leaves, and the white of the
heart leaves, for the basket weaver discriminates all
of these and uses them in her work.
Of course Kuchyeampsi has all her material ready,
the strips buried in moist sand, the grass moistened,
and she may be starting a plaque. The slender coil
at the center is too small to be formed with grass stems,
so she builds it up of waste bits from the leaf-tripping,
wrapping it with yucca strips, and taking only a few
stitches with the encircling coil, since the bone awl is
too clumsy for continuous stitching at the outset. Af