no. 16:31. VOCABULARY OF MALAYSIAN BASKETWORK \l\so\ 



make a kind of false braid or knotwork. (See also Figure-of-8 

 work.) Captain Tozier calls it • ' overhand-knoi in single strand." 



Betel basket. — One of the forms of basketry on which the Malay- 

 sian craftswoman expends her utmost skill. Betel is chewed uni- 

 versally after the manner of tobacco. The quid is made up of betel 

 nut, pepper leaf, and dry slaked lime. Marsden says (p. 71) thai 

 the "penang," or betel-nut tree, i-, in growth and appearance nol 

 unlike the cocoa nut. The betel is the astringent seed of this palm 

 (Arcca catechu), about as large as a nutmeg. Large plantations are 

 made of the " siri " (Piper betel), a creeping plant, whose leaf, of a 

 strong aromatic flavor, they wrap about the nut. dip in powdered 

 lime, and put into the mouth. The basket for holding all these and 

 the utensils that belong with them is quite an exquisite a Hair, hung 

 to the belt. (See figs. 31, 32.) 



Bird Cage. — See Technic. 



Body. — The part of a basket above the bottom, for which all other 

 parts exist and to which they are attached. The materials, shapes. 

 structural parts and their relations, technics, attachments, and decora- 

 tions demand the closest study, inasmuch as they furnish the best 

 means for classification. Okey speaks of the body as "sides." This 

 is quite proper in Malaysia, since a large proportion of the baskets 

 are attached to the person and have back and front and sides differ- 

 entiated. Especial notice should be taken of the relations which 

 added parts bear to the body. In some examples I hey are worked in 

 when the body is forming; in others they are added afterwards. (Sec 

 Currying basket, Cover, Framework, Ornamentation. Him, TecJtnie, 

 Upsett, Warp, Weaving, Weft.) 



Cat. No. 221534, U.S.N.M., Plate II. is a burden basket from Siaba 

 Bay, Xias Island, west of Sumatra, illustrating in an excellent man- 

 ner the diversified technic that may be connected with it. 



1. The body is a cylinder of rattan in three forms and woven in 

 three directions. The horizontal elements are thin hoops; the right 

 obliques are slender splits latticed on the hoops half an inch apart 

 and slightly inclined ; the left obliques are the active uniting elements, 

 being also slender splits, going inside the hoops and outside the right 

 obliques, lying (hit against the former and making a twist or curl 

 around the latter each time one is passed. The lower portion of the 

 body is in quite open work, but above the strengthening hoop the 

 technic is as close as possible. 



2. The attachments and accessory technics to the body of this speci- 

 men are many. (</) The foot is a hoop, whose overlapping ends are 

 joined by wrapping and which is held on by a sewing in long stitches. 

 (b) The framework consists of uprights of rattan splits doubled 

 over the hoop of the carrying zone, lashed t<> the body and to the 

 bottom by a series of Malay knotwork. 



