Basket from Fiji. 57 



what is really the distinftion of the whole work, the beautiful design covering the ex- 

 terior. Whether this cofifin-shaped basket was really intended for the use its name 

 would imply may be doubtful ; certainlj^ in this connedtion it is unimportant ; the re- 

 markably' effedlive design of the basket work is all in all. The technic is simple, a 

 vertical series of small black strips of uncertain origin form the more conspicuous 

 trellis, over and under which pass portions of the close band of light brown grass-like 



?IG. 57. FIJIAN COFFIN-SHAPED BASKKT. 



strips forming the design. Between two bands of zigzag is a much broader band of 

 diaper work ; the tipper rim, which serves also as support for the cover, is a braid of 

 black rattan strips. The design of the cover is not so successful. The vertical por- 

 tion repeats the zigzag band of the basket proper, but the top is covered with a longi- 

 tudinal band of diaper with two zigzag narrower bands on either side, with partings 

 of subsidiary bands of a dark brown weave. Whatever the purpose of this basket we 

 may be sure it was intended to hold something very precious, and I must doubt, in 

 view of the light esteem in which infants were held in ancient times throughout 

 the Pacific, that it was intended to hold the decaying remains of any baby, even the 

 offspring of the highest chiefess. 



