284 ARTS AND CRAFTS OF GUIANA INDIANS [ETH, ANN. 38 
as curios, etc., to tourists and others. Though two squeezers may be 
made of the same number of stems, their length is not necessarily 
identical, this varying with the height of the rafter on which they 
are intended to be hung. It must not be forgotten that in the larger 
varieties the additional and extra strands may also be lengthened by 
superposition like the foundation strands (sec. 347). 
350. Shoulder girdle: The two upper angles of the triangular 
area (pl. 69, fig. 1, E, F), formed of the shoulder and lower half of 
the collar, are next plaited and joined (G), the space intervening be- 
tween the two free sides being filled up by a continuation of the proc- 
ess, with the final result that, extending from between the mouth to 
the level of the scapular point, there is now formed what may be re- 
garded as the shoulder girdle (H). When the number of strands 
employed in the construction of the shoulder is not in accordance with 
the essentials laid down in the preceding table, the lower edge of this 
shoulder girdle will show an interspace, the width either of one or of 
two strands. Owing to carelessness, hurry, or forgetfulness, such a 
contingency will often happen, but it can easily be met by inserting 
within the lacuna the necessary one or two required. Though, under 
such circumstances, the skill and dexterity of the artificer may be 
called in question, the article is none the worse for it from an eco- 
nomic point of view. So far, the pattern followed in the plait has 
been the same all the way through—a horizontal series of exposed 
pieces of strand leaning on the slant upon another series, above and 
below, bearing in the opposite direction (K, L,M,q@). This gives the 
pattern its Arawak name of ayuledahe (to lean against). 
351. Body proper: With the formation of the body proper, how- 
ever, the pattern changes from horizontal to vertical, the plaiting 
now taking on one or another of three forms—the assa-uda (pl. 69, 
fig. 1, K, 6), the abuna-buna-tahu (L, 6), and the aha-(h)abba-dahu 
(M, 6). The first is so named after the assa fish scales, which the 
pattern closely resembles, and tuda, the skin. The Warrau, how- 
ever, speak of the pattern as a pathway cleared by kushi ants. 
Abuna-buna-tahu is the plural form of tabuna (a bone), the term 
appled to any little piece of exposed strand in a plait work. It is 
a pattern which, by its construction, has to be worked in more or 
less of a spiral, but instead of continuing each spiral throughout the 
length of the body proper it may be reversed after a time, then 
brought back to its original direction, and so on alternately. If the 
reversing process is followed, the resultant pattern as a whole gives 
rise to the appearance of vertically arranged very open zigzags. 
The term aha-(h)abba-dahu is adapted from habba, the four-legged 
cassava basket, the sides of which ought to be plaited in this (the 
