Sometimes they keep time by calls and sometimes they use rhymes. [Illustration: “_At first each hammered to suit herself_”] Perhaps you have heard a bark-beater’s rhyme, or have a rhyme yourself. This rhyme is used by children nowadays when they try to beat in the same time: “Sip, sap, say; sip, sap, say; Lig in a nettle bed, while Mayday.” THINGS TO DO _Gather tough branches of trees or shrubs that you have a right to use._ _See if you can make them into splints for baskets._ _Find a way of making brittle wood more tough._ _Beat the stems with hammer stones so as to loosen the layers of wood._ _Keep track of a tree or a shrub in your neighborhood during the year, and find out the best time of the year to gather its branches for baskets._ XXIX THINGS TO THINK ABOUT What do you think would be the easiest way for the women to weave the splints into baskets? What kind of baskets did they need? Would they be apt to make them all in the same way? Have you ever seen a basket that will hold water? If a basket was almost water-tight, how could you make it water-tight? _How the Women Wove Splints_ When the splints were made, the women began to weave them into baskets. Some of the splints were wide and some of them were narrow. Some of them were thin, and some of them were thick. But the women did not mind this. At first they wove them by interlacing, as Sharptooth had woven the basket of rushes. [Illustration: “_They wove the splints in open work_”] But since the strands were not all the same width, the weaving did not look the same. After a while they began to sort the splints. They put the wide splints into one pile and the narrow ones into another. Then they wove the wide splints in open work and made baskets for carrying roots and leaves. They wanted smaller baskets for carrying berries, so they used the narrow splints. They wove these splints in close work so that the berries would not drop out. [Illustration: “_They wove these splints in close work_”] Some of the women wanted still closer weaving, so they pressed the splints down with their fingers. When their fingers became sore from pressing hard, they used a long bone. By driving the splints with a long bone, the weaving was made firm and strong. Some of the baskets they made in this way were found to be water-tight. So they sometimes used them for carrying water. [Illustration: “_By driving the splints with a long bone, the weaving was made firm and strong_”] When the baskets became very dry, the wood shrank and this made little holes in the baskets. But the women soon learned to stop the leak by mending the baskets with pitch. THINGS TO DO _Find baskets that are woven in open work._ _Find baskets that are woven in close work._ _See if you can find a water-tight basket._ _Draw a picture of the women weaving baskets._