BASKET-WORK 



MATERIALS 



INDIAN SALTWORTS 



D.E.P., 

 i., 349-51. 



D.E.P., 

 iv., 199. 



D.E.P., 

 iv., 567. 



D.E.P., 

 vi., pt. ii., 

 387. 

 D.E.P., 

 vi., pt. ii., 

 392. 

 D.E.P., 

 vi., pt. iii., 

 386. 



D.E.P., 

 i., 404-5. 



Baskets. 



Atriplex repens, Roth. A shrubby plant found on the coast of South 

 India and the Deccan. Experimented with unsuccessfully in Madras as a 

 source of barilla. A. SI<K-I.*U, Boiss., a shrubby species (juri) common in the 

 salt marshes at Karachi and fairly common in Gujarat. [Cf. Agri. Journ. Ind., 

 ii., 167.] 



Halocharis violacea, Bunge. A small diffuse annual common in the Peshawar 

 Valley, Western Panjab, Salt Range, and Baluchistan. 



Haloxylon recurvum, Bunge. The khdr, khdri-lani, etc. a straggling bush 

 plentiful in the C. and W. Panjab plains and Salt Range, also found in Sind, 

 Deccan (Coimbatore) and Burma. This is the most important barilla-yielding 

 species. M. >,<,,in/ti-<ii. Bunge, and ii. */i>o-u>im, Bunge; the former occurs 

 in the Panjab and the latter in Sind. They seem to be used as adulterants or 

 substitutes for it. ><< n man. [Cf. Agri. Journ. Ind., Z.c.] 



Kochia indica, Wight. Bui, kaura ro a herbaceous plant which occurs from 

 Delhi to the Indus and also in the Deccan (Coimbatore). [Cf. Agri. Journ. 

 Ind., ii., 167.] 



Salicornia braehiata, Roxb. The guoilu, umari-kirai a small shrub found on 

 most salt marshes in Bengal, South India (Tanjore), etc. 



Salsola foetida, Del. The land, shora (shorga), lanan, ella-kura, etc. a saltwort 

 much valued as fodder for camels and employed in the Hari-rud in the Panjab 

 from Peshawar Valley south-westwards. 



Suseda fruticosa, Forsk. The lunak, choti-lani, limch, ushak lani a sub-erect 

 shrub of N.W. India throughout the Panjab. Used mainly as an adulterant 

 in barilla. s. immoieH, Fors/t. a shrubby species met with on the coast 

 of the S. Deccan. s. inniifltn-n, Moq.- momsa, khdri-ldni, geria, kiray, rava kada, 

 a shrub met with on the coasts of Bengal, Bombay and S. India, s. imn-itiimi. 

 Dumort. lani, khdri-lani, land, yella kiray, ila or ella-kura. A herbaceous species 

 (occasionally shrubby) met with in the Upper Gangetic plains from Delhi to 

 the sea-coasts of Bengal, Bombay and the Deccan. The leaves are eaten, 

 especially in times of famine. Drummond says that most references by 

 authors to s. nuiiifloi-n should be taken as denoting this plant. [Cf. Kew Bull., 

 1891,96-7.] 



For information regarding exotic drought-resisting plants in India confer with 

 paper by Sly in The Agricultural Journal of India (ii., pt. ii., 161-70). 



BASKET AND WICKER-WORK, also Braiding, Hat 

 and Fan Manufacture ; Mukharji, Art. Manuf. Ind., 1888, 

 307-14 ; Ind. Art at Delhi, 1903, 220 ; Gee, Monog. Fibrous Manuf. 

 Pb., 13-4. 



The above heading embraces several distinct crafts, but since the materials em- 

 ployed are often identical, collective treatment may perhaps be the most satisfactory. 

 The opening paragraph of the article Bamboos has already set forth some of the 

 leading ideas that prevail, such as the separation of the Bamboos (Bum fen >) 

 from the Canes (Cniitinu*) and from the Reeds. But there remains the even 

 more difficult task of designing a classification for the basket materials that are 

 neither reeds nor canes, and for the matting materials that are often grasses, reeds, 

 canes or even bamboos. It is proposed to get over this difficulty by furnishing in 

 this work several articles that conjointly may embrace the whole of these some- 

 what diversified crafts and materials. These will be (a) Bamboos : (6) Calamus : 

 (c) Basket and Wicker-work the reeds for the most part : (d) Cyperus or Grass- 

 Matting : and (e) Mats and Matting. But over and above these collective 

 articles, certain substances that have other and more important uses than as 

 materials for baskets and mats will be discussed in their own alphabetical posi- 

 tions, and references to these are accordingly given in the collective articles so 

 that the reader may have little difficulty in discovering the products necessary 

 to complete special enumerations. 



Throughout India basket-making in some form is practised, and very largely 

 so by the gipsy class. In the rural districts it is of the crudest possible kind, 

 the baskets produced being intended purely and simply for agricultural purposes. 

 Here and there, however, basket-making, as a consequence of special materials 

 and facilities, attains a fairly high position, and in one or two instances even 

 becomes artistic and ornamental. The following may be mentioned as the chief 

 materials used and the centres of their utilisation, taken up in the alphabetical 

 sequence of the scientific names of the plants concerned : 



Acacia arabica Agricultural baskets (see p. 8). 



114 



