88 



Mat and Basket Weaving. 



~2tC<tx> li^.n.ima j4«QSfc. 



description of these and other Australian baskets is found in R. Brough Smith's Abo- 

 rigines of Victoria/^ and in the account of certain decorated baskets by R. Etheridge 

 in the Archives internationales d'Ethnographie.''' 



In the specimen in this Museiim (Fig. 88) the shape varies a little from that shown 

 in Fig. 87, which is more like that figured by Smith. Here the diameter is 10 in., height 

 6 in., with a handle of Eucalyptus 

 fibre ( Eucalyptus obliqita ) net- 

 work. The native name in Gipps- 

 land is Minni-gnal-ok. This old 

 form is now scarce, as the native 

 women make them with many 

 modifications to sell to whites. 

 This basket is strong and elastic 

 but not finely made. A peculiar 

 form of coiled basket is shown 

 in Fig. 89. This was formerly 

 common among natives of South 

 Australia but now rarely seen. 

 Eyre says that in one part of 

 South Australia this basket is 

 tailed Pool-la-da-noo-Ko.'^ Two 

 are in this Museum; the one 

 figured, No. 1916, is 8 in. in 

 diameter, and is decorated by 

 spiral stitching; the other is of 

 the same diameter but has a 

 neck of three coils, and is also 

 decorated by red stitching. In 

 both the handle is formed by a 

 continuation of the coil. As to 

 the material. Smith says that 

 both Poa australis and Xerotes 

 longijolia were used for basket ^"^- ^^- coiled basket from orppsLAND. 



making. In Fig. 89 is also shown a common form of basket of which two are in this 



-'R. Brough Smith, The Aborigines of Victoria. Melbourne, 1878, vol. i, p. 345. 



-••Archives internationales d'Ethnographie, xii, p. i. On the Ornamentation of some North Australian "Dilly 

 Baskets." A study in Australian Aboriginal Decorative Art, by R. Etheridge, Junr. , Curator Australian Museum, 

 Sydney. Mr. Etheridge has also described the manufacture of baskets in the Macleay Memorial, vol. Lirn. fo. 

 N. S. Wales, 1893, pp. 247 and 249. 



"Aborigines of Victoria, p. 345. 



1 









