The Navajo and His Blanket #271688

In decorating our homes with fine examples of our Indians' barbaric work which we willingly purchase at almost any price, we gratify our love for curious things and yield to our fancy for unusual embellishments; but in doing so we may also be building better than we know. Collections of the implements of domestic use, and of warfare, and of the clothing and ornaments, made by the Indians of our eastern coast in the time when our Pilgrim Fathers landed, would be of great value now; and collections as sembled by us of similar articles made by the Indians of the present day will be hereafter of great ethnological and historic value. As Indian wars have gone out of fashion, present-time products of Indian handiwork, among which general attention is divided, are basketry, beadwork, buckskin garments, necklaces, pottery, and the Navajo blanket. The more conspicuous of these. And toward which the greatest interest is directed, are the basket and the blanket. Basket-making covers a wide range of territory, the art being prac ticed by many tribes, who produce an almost endless variety of forms and patterns. From Alaska southward along our western coast and in the Rocky Mountain region, wherever there is an Indian tribe or clan, we may find the native-made basket in some form either for utilitarian, ceremonial, or ornamental purposes.