Basket-making is one of the simplest of the mechanic arts; and the workman, in making baskets designed for use, not for ornament or to please the fancy, has no absolute need of tools or apparatus beyond those requisite for cutting the rods and interlacing them —a knife and a bodlcin, with a mallet to beat them into place. The process can be learned in principle by inspection of a basket-maker at work in fashioning a basket from the foundation to the rim. Having provided a sufficient quantity of rods or splints of much greater length than the proposed dimensions of the finished work, he lays a number of them on the floor in paral lel pairs at small intervals in the direction of the longer diameter of the basket; this is the woof, so to speak. Then these are crossed at right angles by two of the largest osiers, with their thick ends toward the worlanan, who sets his foot upon them; next, each of these is woven alternately over and under the length wise parallel pieces, and thus the parallel pieces are held fast; this is the 4slatho— the founda tion. Now the end of one of the two transverse rods is woven over and under the lengthwise rods all round the bottom till that whole rod is worked in; and the same is done with the other transverse rod, and then additional long osiers are woven in till the bottom is of the required size. The bottom is now finished and work begins on the superstructure by driving the sharpened large ends of a sufficient number of long, stout osiers between the rods at the bottom from the edge toward the centre; these are the ribs or skeleton, being set up in the di rection of the sides; between these ribs other rods are woven in till the structure reaches the desired height To finish the edge the ends of the ribs are turned down over each other and thus compactly united. A handle is added by forcing two or three sharpened rods of the requisite length down through the weav ing of the sides, close together, and pinning them fast a little below the brim; the rods are then either bound or plaited in any way the worlanan chooses.
Our North American Indians were once among the most expert basket-weavers in the world. Now only the older Indians know the art, and certain tribes whose work was incom parably fine and beautiful have already lost it. After much pauperizing under the abominable reservation system., it was decided that the In dians needed an Industry to save them from sinking still lower. Lace-making, after Brus sels and French patterns, was first superim posed on a Minnesota reservation, whence it has spread. Now, lace-malting, which has been de veloped by the European woman, fits her like a glove; and quite as truly, basket-making fits the Indian like a moccasin. Yet the Indians have succeeded at making lace, for they have remarkable skill with the fingers. An enlight ened administrator of Indian affairs has taken up the task of human development in the right way and has made plans to revive basket making by introducing it into the government Indian schools, where the children, who now know nothing of this beautiful art, may learn from the only masters capable of teaching them — their own people, directed by white teachers who know the needs of the constantly widen ing market. Hundreds of thousands of dollars'
worth of baskets are imported from Japan and Germany every year — money which by every right should be earned by our capable and needy Indians; and better than the money they will earn is the satisfaction of doing what they do with surpassing skill.
a distinctly American game. Its history begins in 1891, when a lecturer in psychology at the Young Men's Christian Association Training School, in Springfield, Mass., suggested, as an exercise of inventiveness, a game that would comply with certain conditions. One of his pupils, James Naismith, tak ing note of the hypothetical conditions indoors —limited area, limited number of contestants, equally applicable to either sex, etc. — applied his mind to meet those conditions, and invented gbasket-ball." It is played on a marked oblong square containing not more than 3,500 feet of actual playing-space, by teams of five each, known respectively as centre, left and right forwards, and left and right backs. The ball is round and inflated, not less than 30 or more than 32 inches in circumference, and very like that with which "Association" foot-ball is played. The goals are hammock nets of cord, suspended from metal rings 18 inches in diam eter, and placed 10 feet from the ground, in the centre of the ends of the playing-space. The time of playing, for seniors, is two halves of 20 minutes, with an interval of 10 minutes; and for juniors, two halves of 15 minutes, with a similar interval. No kicking of the ball with the foot, or hitting with the fists, is permitted; the ball must be held by the hands only. Con sult Naismith and Gulick, 'Basket Ball); 'Spalding's Athletic Library' (New York 1894) ; Fisher, H. A. (ed.), Official Collegiate Basket Ball Guide ('Spalding's Athletic Li brary,' New York, annual) ; Smith, T. H., Of ficial Basket Ball Guide (Fox's
a name given about 1670 by John Winthrop, governor of Connecticut, to the Astropkyton agassisii. It belongs to the group Euryalida and is allied to the sand-stars, but differs in the arms being much branched and ending in long, slender tendrils which are so much interlaced as to suggest basket-work. It is very large, the disc being two inches across, and the entire animal often a foot in diameter. It lives off the coast of New England in from 10 to 100 fathoms of water. Other names are `Medusa's-head" and See BAG-WORM.