48 THE HAINAXESE MIAO 



way, and pieces are also put on both sides of the coat where 

 it fastens, for a distance of six or seven inches down from the 

 collar. The side seams are open for about eight inches from 

 the bottom of the coat and are edged with red. ■ 



The skirt is a double piece of the same goods, the fold 

 coming at the bottom, and reaches to the knees. It is tied 

 around the hips with a tape. The skirt is not embroidered, but 

 is elaborately stamped with figures of trees, bamboo, etc., in 

 a distinct pattern. The method of stamping is very ingenious. 

 A small piece of bamboo about eight inches long is whittled to 

 a very narrow width in the centre for a distance of a quarter 

 or an eighth of an inch, and the two ends then brought 

 together and fastened, leaving the narrow piece straight 

 across the bottom. Some beeswax is melted, and the woman 

 dips her bamboo instrument in the wax and puts it quickly 

 on the undyed goods. Dipping, dipping, dipping she puts 

 her pattern on in perfect regularity, without any sort of guide, 

 if she be skilful at it. Then the cloth is dyed, but the dye 

 cannot penetrate the wax, which is later scalded off with 

 boiling water, and the pattern is left, a very faint blue on 

 the dark blue skirt. 



The kerchief is embroidered with many symbolic designs. 

 It too is the same dark blue cloth, a piece about fourteen 

 inches square. With lighter blue thread and silk of all 

 colours the cloth is almost covered with cross stitch and other 

 forms of embroidery. The younger women and the girls 

 make their's very gay, the older women not so much so. 

 It is said that a woman working steadily takes a month to 

 finish one kerchief, and a woman who must work too, will 

 often need a year to finish one. So they are not easy to buy, 

 even at the price of one dollar which we always give. The 

 central motif is always worked out on the square as a basis, 

 with the octagon and the isosceles right triangle as the 

 natural variations in the figures. The swastika symbol is 

 used a great deal. Birds, butterflies, silkworm moths, trees, 

 flowers, horses, dogs, dragons, tortoises, Loi children and 

 Hainanese children (two very different figures — and never a 

 figure of a Miao child) — these are some of the symbols I 

 managed to identify. The women speak very little Hai- 

 nanese and I know no Miao so it was impossible to get all their 

 meanings. The kerchief is worn with one point over the 

 forehead and one down the back of the neck, the other two 

 corners being brought around and tied in a knot at the back 

 of the head. The younger girls wear the same costume as 

 the women with the exception that they usually have pointed 

 hoods, also embroidered, or sometimes hoods with the crown 

 cut out to show the kerchief beneath. The babies wear little 



