386 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. xxxvi. 



by the left hand with a curling movement." The smooth strips are 

 folded into compact bundles and soaked in cold water for three 

 nights, changing the water twice a day. After this they are bleached 

 in the sun for a day and are then ready for use. 



Mrs. Bland's account of the preparation of the materials is most 

 helpful, and, before giving a detailed description of the drawings 

 and processes shown, an abstract of her description will throw much 

 light on the native practice. 



The basket starts from six strands crossed in the middle of the 

 bottom and the fabric is built up by working in three directions, 

 braiding, not weaving. The strands go from left to right in the 

 process. After the Avork reaches the rim of the basket, the strips are 

 turned back over a rattan split and inwoven, as will be fully ex- 

 plained. 



The strips of pandanus are glossy on one side only. In this they 

 resemble the split roots and cane of the Pacific coast Indians and of 

 the tribes of the Gulf States. In order to have the basket smooth on 

 both sides, the native women work their splits and strips in pairs. 



But the " mad weave '' maker proceeds on an entirely different 

 plan. After the basket has been wrought from bottom to rim in 

 single ply, the strips are inwoven backward to the center of the 

 bottom by tucking under, the glossy side being outward and the ends 

 of strips being cut off invisibly. 



On the way back pretty designs are frequently made by curling 

 and folding the strips between thumb and forefinger. Mrs. Bland 

 speaks of these as " rice grains " and they are worked into stars or 

 hexagons, which are further bunched into single or combined geo- 

 metric patterns.^ 



The ''mad weave" is worked up into various shapes, but the 

 hexagon is the i^revailing form. All of them — square, oblong rec- 

 tangular, oval, and diamond shape — start with the six-sided motive 

 and are brought by skill into other designs. 



In 1906 Henry Balfour, esq., of I'itt-Ivivers Museum, Oxford, 

 England, took up the "mad weave" and reproduced it in tapes of 

 three colors. He described the systeni as an under-two-and-over-one 

 (i) and an under-one-and-over-two (|) system of interweaving. The 

 difficult}^ comes from having three sets of parallel strands. 



In 1007 I was so fortunate as to secure the cooperation of some arts 

 and crafts friends, with the result that Miss Edwina H. Fallis, of 

 Denver, Colorado, through Mrs. Wright Jones produced a one-ply 

 specimen, and Mrs. Mary Wright Gill, of Washington City, worked 

 out the mad weave detail noAv to be described and illustrated. 



" Straits Branch Journal, No. 46, pi. 4, fig. d. 

 * Idem, pi. 6. 



