30 PKOCEEDIN"GS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol, 79 



are ornamental appendages of boar's tusks, each tusk representing 

 a trophy of the hunt. The Negrito uses no spear but bags his game 

 with the aid of his dogs and his bow and arrows only. Tliere is 

 nothing remarkable about the bow. It is formed from the black 

 palmwood, is 5 or 6 feet in length and is plain, the ensemble of 

 bow and bamboo arrow resembling for the most part the bow and 

 arrow used by the Tinguian of Luzon. 



One peculiarit}^ in the construction of the Negrito hunting or 

 trophy bags is in the attachment of a neatly carved and highly 

 polished "swagger stick" of bone cut from a tibia of the cassowary. 

 It is secured by a wooden pivot, around which the " stick " is almost 

 constantly twirled by the Negrito hunter when he is not otherwise 

 occupied. A small wooden pillow 6 or 8 inches long and 3 or 4 

 inches wide, but less than one-half inch in thickness, is always car- 

 ried in the trophy bag. 



A third type of woven fabric bag is the smaller charm or amulet 

 bag of similar weave and ornamented profusely with peeled orchid 

 bark. The charm bag represents, along with the woven body armor, 

 some of the finest products of the skill of the Negrito in the loomless 

 handicrafts. It is a small pouch 3 or 4 inches long, scarcely large 

 enough to carry a tooth, a beautifully colored seed, or some other 

 similar amulet. The compact weave is dissimilar to that of the large 

 open-mesh bags. It is a combination of a series of braided ribs, each 

 having two or three elements and each made up of 2-ply cord. These 

 braided ribs are passed diagonally from one side of the bag to the 

 other and have no connection with each other except at the center of 

 the bag, which on completion becomes the bottom, and at each end 

 where the braided rib terminates by having each one of its constituent 

 elements become an element in the next braided rib. By arranging 

 the braided ribs about a center near each end of the bag, and having 

 the ribs terminated there, the bag assumes an oblong rectangular 

 outline. A novel feature is introduced at this stage in the making 

 of the charm bag. On the surface which is to become the outer one, 

 a continuous strip of peeled bark of the orchid is twined longitudi- 

 nally around each intersecting braided rib with which it forms an 

 X-shape angle firmly knitting the diffen^nt ribs together and at the 

 same time supplying a beautiful ornamental pattern. So far as is 

 known this weave is new to science. A braided rib representing the 

 elements taken from four of the braided ribs of the bag thus contin- 

 ued forms an extension several inches in length. This is designed 

 for a cover, as each charm bag represented in the collection has an 

 extension cord just long enough to be passed enough times around the 

 bag to completely inclose it if the process is begun at one end and 

 continued to the opposite end of the bag. 



