so.1631. VOCABULARY OF MALAYSIAN BASEETWORK— MASON, 



41 



Figs. 36-38 (Cat. Xo. 216305, U.S.N.M.) show a single-stem basket 

 from Simalur Island, northwest of Sumatra. Tt is a wonder how a 

 savage woman ever thought of so intricate a thing. The handle is a 

 rod or stem of rattan doubled in the middle. After being clasped 

 together with a ring of braidwork, each end is split into four parts, 

 making eight warp stems, which are knotted at the bottom and from 

 that point become wrapped weft. See drawings a. I>. <■. fig. 36, show- 

 ing the doubled and split stem, the attachment of braidwork, the 

 knotting of the warps at 

 the bottom, and the com- 

 mencement of the wrapped 

 weaving. Each split makes 

 a turn or half hitch 

 around a warp, passes the 

 next one, and continues to 

 make a half hitch around 

 every alternate warp until 

 exhausted. About half 

 way up, the ends of these 

 are tied to additional 

 splits of rattan, continu- 

 ing the process of half 

 hitches: but, the spaces 

 between the warps being 

 wider, the wefts form 

 plaits. See drawings <L e, 

 /. g, figs. 37, 38, for the 

 finishing processes. At 

 the rim the ends are fas- 

 tened off by simply pass- 

 ing into the old knots. 



2. Checkerwork, both 

 close and open, erect and 

 oblique, abounds in the 

 Abbott Malaysian collec- 

 tions. If made in strips of 

 soft material, like pan- 

 danus leaf, this technic lends itself ever for both useful and decorative 

 work — for matting, baskets, wallets, reticules, and soon. In more deli- 

 cate fibers it leads up to the finest loomwork, while in rigid materials 

 it gives itself most readily to the fabric of bottoms, the elements be- 

 coming spokes or warps of the body of the basket. ( Figs. 1. 11.) 



3. Twillwork, in which all elements are active and pass under and 

 over different numbers of strands, two or more, or not the same 

 strands from one course to another, is at home all over Malaysia, 



Fig 



Processes on single-stem basket. 



