Alicroiicsiaii Looiii. 07 



tree, and the other by a belt or sliug (h) which passes behind the back of the weaver, 

 who is seated on the ground, so that he can easily regnlate the tension on the warp. 

 There was no yarn beam and cloth beam as in American and European looms of higher 

 development ; the whole fabric, warp and completed mat, was free to move over both 

 beams like an endless apron. A similar arrangement is found in the Zufii loom."' The 

 slings are called kiPii. Next the weaver are two bambu sticks, about an inch wide, 

 called api (1;), thrust through the warp, so as to separate this into an upper and under 

 layer. This would be suiificient in the simplest loom, but usually a rude heddle or 

 harness, na^ (the sticks next the upper beam in the figure), consisting of a thin stick with 

 a continuous cord looped along its length, and through these loops every other thread 

 is passed before the loom is set ujj. In more complicated looms there are often man 3^ 

 of these heddles through which varying portions of the warp pass and which are lifted at 

 suitable intervals by machinery. In our present loom this motion is by hand, and it 

 operates to "form a shed" by raising alternate threads from their neighbors far enough 

 to allow the shuttle, si^ ia (G), on which the filling or woof, ago s/''/(7, is wound, to be 

 thrust between the two layers from right or left. When the shuttle has passed, the 

 third process comes into plaj-, — the thread left in the shed (lay) is beaten up with 

 a lathe or batten (d). Often the shed is formed, as in the loom from Ontong Java, by 

 a sword-shaped strip of wood, /aga, which the weaver holds in his right hand and there- 

 with separates the laj-ers of the warp so that the shuttle can easily slip through, and 

 also serves to press the last thread of the woof close to the preceding one. This cycle 

 constantly repeated completes the weaving. Of course the threads that were lifted for 

 the first passage of the shuttle with the woof ai'e depressed for the next passage, or, 

 what amounts to the same thing, the others are lifted by being passed through 

 another harness. When the shuttle is emptied of filling another is substituted, and 

 the junction of threads is made by a neat knot j^recisely as in the more complicated 

 loom of modern fadlories. 



That my readers may have the full benefit of the German description, I give 

 here the important portion of Mr. Parkinson's account: — 



Die eiiizelneu Theile des Webeapparats auf Ontong-Java (olgeu in nachsteheuder Anordnuiig. 



Die Kettenfadeii {Hau) sind iiiii zvvei rutide Holzer geschluugen, welche etvvas latiger sind als die 



Breite der herzustelleudeti Matte. Diese beiden Holzer werden O genannt. Das ein wird niittelst 



einer Schlinge oder eines Baudes, an beide Enden des O verbunden, an einen Pfosten befestigt ; das 



andere Holz hat ein ebensolches Band, welches der auf dem Bodeu sitzende Weber um die Taille 



legt, wodurch er es in seiner Macht hat die Kettenfaden straff anzuziehen ; diese Schlingen werden 



KiCti genannt. Dem Weber zimachst sind zwei etwa 2-3 cM. breite Bambusstabchen {Api) Avixc\\. 



die Kettenfaden geschoben, so dass sie diese in eine obere und in eine untere lyage trenuen. Dan 



folgt ein diiuner Stock {Ka'o) an dem, durch eine fortlaufende Fadenschlinge {U'a), die untere 



Kettenlage befestigt ist, so dass, wenn das Stockcheu gehoben wird, die untere Kettenlage fiber die 



='Otis T. Mason. A Primitive Frame for Weaving Narrow Fabrics. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1899, p. 492. 

 Memoirs B. P. B. Museum. Vol. II, No. i. — 7. 



