CHAP. XII 



DECORATIVE ART 



225 



Fig. 45. — Figure-head of Kayan War- 

 boat carved in hard wood. 



but has the same peculiar convexity of the one 

 side and concavity of the other in transverse section. 

 The shaft is sunk into the end of a rod of hard 

 wood and secured with gutta and fine rattan lashing. 

 The handle of hard wood is about a foot in length, 

 half an inch in diameter, 

 and slightly bowed in the 

 plane of the blade, the 

 convexity being in the 

 direction of the cutting 

 edge of the blade. The 

 butt end of the handle is 

 cunningly carved in the 



shape of a crocodile's head, or prolonged in a piece 

 of carved deer's horn. The blade of the knife is 

 held between the thumb and finger of the right 

 hand, the cutting edge directed forwards, and the 

 long handle is gripped between the forearm and the 

 lower ribs ; the weight of the body can thus be 

 brought to the assistance of the 

 arm in cutting hard material. With 

 this knife most of the finer carving 

 is done, the adze and sword being 

 used chiefly for rough shaping. 



The adze consists of a flat blade 

 of steel in the shape of a highly 

 acute -angled triangle (PI. in). 

 The slightly convex base is the 

 . T. T" ^ cutting edge. The upper half of 



Fig. 46.— Kayan Button , » 1 / i • 1 



for Sword-belt carved the triangle (which may or may 

 in hard wood or sub- ^^^ ]^q marked by a shoulder) is 



stance of the horn- , . , . 1 1 1 • 1 1 • 1 v • 



bill's beak. buried in the lashings by which it is 



attached to the wooden haft. The 

 haft is a small bough of tough, springy wood, cut 

 from a tree, together with a small block of the wood 

 of the stem ; the latter is shaved down until It forms 

 an oblong block continuous with the haft and at 

 an angle to it of yo°'So\ The upper half of the 

 VOL. I Q 



