40 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



the imagination of the artist. The term structural part as applied 

 to materials includes stems, half stems, splits, strips, fibers, filaments, 

 leaves, roots, and whatever other parts of a plant enters in. Cat. No. 

 •JlM:»04, U.S.N.M., Plate III, is a graceful burden basket in hex- 

 agonal technic. six-sided, pointed at the bottom, with abundance of 

 hoopwork at the carrying zone and on the border. 



Symbolism. — Upon this word American and Malaysian basketwork 



part company. In America the spirit world lives and has its being 



on basketry and pottery; but Malaysian textiles of every sort, even 



the most adorned, are as mute on religion " as though that soul were 



dead." Of a pictorial epoch or stage there 



are no survivals in the fictile or textile art. 



If one ever existed, hundreds of years under 



Buddhistic and then Mohammedan power 



have obliterated every trace. 



To pa. — Original clothing of the Sumatrans, 

 still used among the Rejangs for their work- 

 ing dress. Jt is the inner bark of the " cala- 

 wee, r a bastard breadfruit, beat out to the 

 fineness required. (Marsden, p. 43.) It is 

 sometimes dyed yellow, but usually remains 

 the natural light brown color. Occurs prac- 

 tically all over the islands. 



Technic (technique).. — All the textile proc- 

 esses employed in basketwork and other handi- 

 crafts. It embraces the preparation of mate- 

 rials and all the methods of putting them 

 together, as well as the results of those proc- 

 esses. Baskets and basketwork may be classi- 

 fied by the technic. This was done for the 

 American ware (Aboriginal American Bas- 

 ketry, Report IT. S. National Museum, 1902, 

 p. 190), and is here attempted for the Malay- 

 sian. Many of the American processes will appear in Malaysia and 

 will receive the same names; other processes and variants will require 

 additional terms. 



In the Abbott collections from his areas in Malacca, Sumatra, Bor- 

 neo, and vicinity, one is struck with the numberless variations in each 

 class of technic and with their combinations. 



1. For example, from the single-element technic, which consists 

 of the bending, winding, and interlocking of the most simply curved, 

 sinuous, spiral figure-of-8 movement of a single rattan stem or other 

 long element, the weaver multiplies her stems and proceeds to work 

 with two or more laid side by side to create new artistic patterns. 



Fig. 36. ■ — Beginning or 



SINGLE-STEM BASKET. 



