DECORATIVE ART 



229 



point of the knife upon the surface of the bamboo, 

 the artist working from memory of the desired 

 pattern and adapting it to 

 the proportions of the surface 

 to be covered. The Iban 

 works more freely than 

 others, working out the 

 pattern and modifying it to 

 meet the exigencies of his 

 material, section by section, 

 as he goes along. Others 

 plan out the design for the 

 whole surface before work- 

 ing out any part in detail. 

 It is probable that in no 

 case does a man sit down 

 and produce a new pattern ; 

 but the freer mode of work- 

 ing of the Iban leads him 

 on to greater modifications 

 of the traditional designs ; 

 and it is probably partly for 

 this reason that a much 

 larger variety of designs is 

 applied in this way by them 

 than by the other tribes, 

 among whom they are very 

 limited in number. But the 

 greater variety of designs 

 worked by the Ibans is due 

 also to the readiness with 

 which he copies and adopts 

 as his own the patterns used 

 by other tribes. The Kayans 

 and Kenyahs use almost ex- 

 clusively varieties of the dog pattern and of the 

 hook and circle (see Fig. 47). 



The design outlined by the point of the knife 



Fig. 47. 



