XI HANDICRAFTS 213 



in the gallery or private chambers ; those spread 

 on the floor for catching the winnowed rice, or on 

 the platforms outside the gallery for exposing and 

 drying the /^<^/ before pounding it; the mat which 

 every person spreads to sleep upon. 



Most of these baskets and mats are made from 

 narrow strips of rattan varying from y^r to ^ of an 

 inch according to the size and use of the article ; the 

 strips are closely woven with great regularity. The 

 commonest arrangement is for two sets of strips to 

 cross one another at right angles, each strip passing 

 over and under two of the opposed set. The 

 basket-work so made is very pliable, tough, and 

 durable. The standard shapes are worked out with 

 great precision. The Kayans are generally content 

 to make strong serviceable basket-ware without 

 ornamentation ; but in a large proportion of basket- 

 ware of this kind made by the other peoples, strips 

 of rattan dyed black are combined with those of the 

 natural pale yellow colour, and very effective 

 patterns are thus worked in. The dyeing of the 

 strips is effected by soaking them in a dye obtained 

 by beating out in water the soft stem and leaves of 

 a plant known as tarum. The dark stain is rendered 

 still blacker by subsequently burying the strips in 

 the mud of the river for some ten days, or by wash- 

 ing them in lime. The dyed strips are then jet 

 black with a fine polished surface, and the dye is 

 quite permanent. 



A form of mat-work deserving special notice is 

 the lampit, the mat used largely for sleeping and 

 sitting upon. It is made of stout strips of rattan 

 lying parallel to one another, and held together by 

 strings threaded through the strips at right angles 

 to their length at intervals of four or five inches. 

 This mat has an extremely neat appearance and 

 allows itself to be neatly rolled up. The piercing 

 of the rattan strips at suitable intervals is facilitated 



