~ AHT. 30 DESIGN AREAS IN OCEANIA KRIEGER 29 



taro. Hot cooking stones wrapped in leaves are then placed on the 

 food and the whole is covered over with ashes and earth. Exclusion 

 of air serves to continue the cooking process for some time. Thus 

 is created a primitive tireless cooker. 



There is scarcity of domestic implements but a great variety of 

 woven cord fabrics, applied chiefly to the making of openwork weave 

 meshed carrying, storage, and trophy bags. Although very few and 

 crude baskets are made by the Negrito, basketry materials and 

 technique are applied as in the making of body armor, in ornamental 

 braided bands resembling the continuous braided bands of basketry 

 materials so much in vogue among the peoples of Malaysia, in the 

 braided thong woven as wristlets, in headbands and ornamental 

 wristlets of twill weave, and in many other objects betraying a skill 

 that could easily have been applied to the making of baskets as well. 



Pottery making, like the use of metals, is unknown to Papuans 

 and pygmy Negritos alike. 



As no cradle board is employed, carrying bags of woven cord 

 fabric are used. Such a carrying bag is often quite large. It is 

 woven with a 2-ply cord fabric in simple openwork meshed design 

 and may be used to carry everything from firewood, meat, potatoes, 

 and other supplies, along with a baby unceremoniously thrust into its 

 improvised cradle, from which it is removed without protest on the 

 return of the mother from the clearing. 



Many of the woven carrying bags have an ornamental figured 

 design covering one side effected through the introduction of peeled 

 grommets from the yellow stems of the orchid. Some of these are 

 stained a dull red, producing with the natural color of the fabric 

 material designs in three colors. The designs introduced form 

 geometric rectangular figures and are produced by intertwining the 

 introduced peeled orchid strips with the 2-ply fabric of which the 

 bag is made. Peeled strips of yellow orchid stems are similarly 

 introduced as applique designs on charm and trophy bags, also on 

 girdles and other objects of personal adornment. Cut sections of 

 stems of orchid are mounted on fabric cord as beaded necklaces. 



The carrying bag is worn as a headdress when not in use for other 

 purposes, a portion of it being allowed to drop like a veil at the side 

 of the head or down the back. This draping lends a peculiar appear- 

 ance to the wearer, giving the Negrito the illusory appearance of 

 having a Semitic cast of facial and head features. When in use as a 

 carrier, a long band or tump line, with which it is provided, is passed 

 around and over the forehead. 



Another variety of meshed bag, the so-called trophy bag, is worn 

 by men only. It is carried under the armpit at one side of the body 

 and is supported over the opposite shoulder. Attached to this bag 



