[ILLUSTRATIONS.]
| PAGE | |||
| Figure | 1. | Mohegan basket gauge. | [11] |
| “ | 2. | Mohegan hand splint planer. | [11] |
| “ | 3. | Mohegan crooked knives with wood and antler handles. | [13] |
| “ | 4. | Bone punch. | [15] |
| “ | 5. | Typical basketry design of the Mohegans. | [15] |
| “ | 6. | Mohegan and Niantic painted designs. c, f, from specimen b, Pl. IV, Niantic. a, d, from specimen a, Pl. III, Mohegan. b, e, from specimen b, Pl. I, Mohegan. | [17] |
| “ | 7. | Mohegan and Niantic painted designs. a, from specimen a, Pl. III, Mohegan. b, from specimen b, Pl. IV, Niantic. c, e, from specimen b, Pl. I, Mohegan. d, from specimen a, Pl. I, Mohegan. f, from specimen c, Pl. II, Mohegan. | [19] |
| “ | 8. | Mohegan and Niantic painted designs. a, c, d, e, f, from specimen b, Pl. IV, Niantic. b, from specimen a, Pl. III, Mohegan. | [21] |
| “ | 9. | Mohegan painted designs. a, c, from specimen a, Pl. III, Mohegan. b, Mohegan. | [23] |
| “ | 10. | Mohegan, Niantic, and Scatticook painted designs. a, b, from specimen a, Pl. III, Mohegan. c, e, f, g, h, i, k, from specimen b, Pl. IV, Niantic. d, from specimen a, Pl. II, Mohegan. j, from specimen c, Pl. II, Mohegan. l, from Curtis, Scatticook. | [25] |
| “ | 11. | Mohegan and Niantic painted designs. a, from specimen b, Pl. I, Mohegan. b, c, d, e, f, from specimen b, Pl. IV, Niantic. | [27] |
| “ | 12. | Mohegan, Scatticook, and Niantic painted designs. a, c, from specimen (Mohegan). b, from specimen a, Pl. III, Mohegan. d, f, from Curtis (Scatticook). e, from specimen b, Pl. IV, Niantic. | [29] |
| “ | 13. | Linear border designs from Mohegan painted baskets. | [29] |
| “ | 14. | Body designs from Mohegan painted baskets. a, on the top of the basket; b on the sides. | [31] |
| “ | 15. | The curlicue or roll, in Scatticook baskets. | [33] |
| “ | 16. | The curlicue or roll, in Scatticook baskets. | [35] |
| “ | 17. | Bottom of Scatticook basket, showing trimming of radial splints. | [37] |
| “ | 18. | (a) Scatticook gauge. | [39] |
| (b) Scatticook gauge. | [39] | ||
| “ | 19. | Scatticook gauges. | [41] |
| “ | 20. | Scatticook splint planer. | [43] |
| “ | 21. | Mohegan beadwork on birch bark. | [43] |
| “ | 22. | Carved bone hand. | [43] |
| “ | 23. | Decorated Mohegan wooden object. | [45] |
| Plate | I. | Mohegan baskets (a and b painted). | [49] |
| “ | II. | Mohegan baskets (a, b, and c painted). | [51] |
| “ | III. | Mohegan baskets. a—Painted. b—Shows bottom construction. | [53] |
| “ | IV. | Niantic and Mohegan baskets. a—Mohegan washing basket, b—Niantic storage basket made about 1840 by Mrs.Mathews at Black Point (near Lyme, Conn.) | [55] |
| “ | V. | Mohegan carrying baskets. | [57] |
| “ | VI. | Mohegan baskets, fancy work baskets, and wall pocket. | [59] |
| “ | VII. | Tunxis baskets. Made by Pually Mossuck, a Tunxis woman from Farmington, Conn., who died about 1890 at Mohegan. Lower left hand basket slightly painted. | [61] |
| “ | VIII. | Scatticook baskets, made by Rachel Mawee, Abigail Mawee, and Viney Carter, who died at Kent, Conn. about 1895. | [63] |
| “ | IX. | Oneida stamped basket (Heye collection). | [65] |
| “ | X. | Mohegan and Niantic moccasins. a—Mohegan moccasins. b—Niantic moccasins from the old reservation at Black Point, near Lyme, Conn. | [67] |
| “ | XI. | Mohegan and Niantic beaded bags (3 from the Heye collection). | [69] |
| “ | XII. | Mohegan corn mortars and stone pestle. | [71] |
| “ | XIII. | Mohegan ladles and spoons. | [73] |
[Decorative Art of Indian Tribes of Connecticut.]
A fortunate phase of the research work among the Indians of New England has recently led to the extension of our knowledge of the decorative art of the eastern Algonkin tribes. This has been made possible by the discovery of specimens, and by information furnished by several aged Indians of the Mohegan and Niantic tribes of eastern Connecticut.[1]
During several visits in the winter of 1912–13, Mrs. Henry Mathews (Mercy Nonsuch), the only full-blooded survivor of the Niantic Indians, formerly inhabiting the shore of Long Island sound around the mouth of Niantic river, and the Mohegans, Cynthia Fowler, Charles Mathews, and the late Fidelia Fielding, the last person who could speak the Mohegan language, all contributed towards the material here presented.[2]
The principal field of decoration among the Mohegan and Niantic, so far as we can now tell, seems to have been chiefly in paintings on baskets. Decorative wood-carving upon household utensils and sometimes upon implements was also quite common. Bead-work, on the other hand, appears to have been a secondary activity. A short account of the basket-making itself is required, before the basket decorations are described. For household and gardening purposes these people have developed a few types of baskets (manu·´da[3] “receptacle”) varying in shape, size, and weave. The most characteristic forms seem to have been rectangular baskets a foot or so in length, two-thirds as high, and of proportionate width, and without handles, though often provided with covers. These are the household storage articles (Plates [I] and [II]). For carrying garden products, and for hand use in general, are somewhat smaller round-bottomed baskets, with handles or bails, ranging in width from 4 inches up to baskets with a capacity of half a bushel (Plates [III] and [V]). Then we have the type known, among the Indians from Nova Scotia to the Southern States, as “melon”, “rib”, or “gizzard” baskets (Plate [III], upper right hand corner), provided with bails, and also used for carrying. And, lastly, there are the open work baskets, some of which are small fancy articles, while others are used as strainers (Plates [IV] and [VI]). These fall under the general type of open hexagonal twill baskets. All these types, of course, are commonly found among practically all the tribes of the Atlantic coast, varying only in the minor details of weave at the rim and the bottom.