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The carrying
basket is even less frequently seen than the water jar. tsizis (tsi, hair, and
zis, or azis, a bag or pouch, from the mode of carrying it over the hair of the
forehead) is used at present for gathering the hashkan, or yucca fruit, for syrup.
The baskets are plaited of willow twigs much after the style of our own baskets,
but have neither handle nor finished rim. Instead, a cord is fastened to two of
the staves or bows, and the basket is carried exactly like the water bottle, but
the cord is preferably slipped over the forehead or scalp. At times they are strapped
as a pack to either horse or burro, one basket dangling from either side. A basket
of the same type is sometimes made on the field for conveying the yucca fruit.
It consists of two staves or bows made of oak twigs, crossed in the center and
brought upward, where they are attached to a hoop. This rude framework, in turn,
is covered with goat or sheepskin, which is sewed to the hoop, while a cord attached
to two of the staves completes the temporary equipment of the basket. Pgs. 298-299
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