Thompson (Nlaka'pamux) Split Cedar Roots: Finger-Thick Roots Dug, Buried Fresh, Peeled, Dried and Split with a Bone Awl (Teit, 1900)

"Next they are split into long strips by inserting and pressing forward the point of the bone awl used in basket-making."

Dig the small trailing roots of a red cedar with a root-digger and cut pieces of the length you need, about as thick as a finger. Take only a few roots from each tree (ours).

Bury the pieces in the ground to keep them fresh until you need them.

Take them out, peel or scrape them with a sharp stone or knife, and hang them up until dry enough to work.

Push the point of a deer-bone awl into the end and press it forward along the root to split off long strips. Keep those that come out even in width and thickness along their whole length for sewing; tie the irregular, short or thin ones in bundles of about a dozen for coiling.

From James Teit, *The Thompson Indians of British Columbia*, **Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History, Jesup North Pacific Expedition** vol. I part IV (1900), pp. 187-188 (checked on the archive.org scan cihm_16242). Only women and girls did this work; the splints went into watertight coiled baskets (see the coiled-basket blueprint). Lengths and taking only a few roots per tree are ours.