88 



G. A. T. VAN DER SANDE. 



Mourning belts made of cord with cross rows of the simple „figure eight" stitch (fig. 9), 

 as reported from Collingwood Baj' (Berlin Muséum, N°. 21589) I hâve never seen worn. 

 However it is not surprising that everywhere in the territory of the Netherl. north coast, 

 and wherever else the small bark petticoat is used, more belts are worn than in the eastern 

 part of K. W. Land and in British N. G. where the leaf petticoat, with strings attached to it, is 

 customary. The collection contains two women's belts (N°. 405, PI. XVI, fig. 4 and N°. 406) 

 from Humboldt Bay made of hard unbeaten bark, never yet collected in Netherl. 

 X. G. and of the occurrence of which on our territory, BlRO [1899, 89] was also unaware. 

 An illustration by KONING [1903, 26S, PL 4] shows, how they are worn over the upper margin 

 of the bark petticoat ; owing to the limited length of the belt, the ends, as a rule, do not 

 meet in front, but are tied together with a string. 



I suppose that thèse belts are manufactured by the women themselves, at ail events 

 they were offered for sale by women, and one of them, who was accompanied by her husband, 

 who had also something to sell, wanted to be paid separately. A similar maie belt ofthicker 

 material (N°. 407), decorated outside with white (lime) figures, was obtained at Tobâdi, where 

 however I hâve never seen it used. It may be of but little value as a protection against 

 arrows, being much thinner and narrower than the stiff bark belts, which in K. W. Land, 

 25 — 30 cm. broad and 2 — 2.5 M. long (PARKINSON [1899, 30, PL XV, fig. 2; PL XIX, 

 fig. 16], Meyer and Parkinsox [1900, PL 9]), are long enough to be wound several 

 times round the body (Erdyveg [1902, 308, fig. 206]) and are classed by BlRO [1899, 

 89] under armour, although they also appear in daily use. I hâve not found any engraved 

 figures on thèse belts, as reported by ERD'WEG [1. c. 309, fig. 207, 208] both of the 

 in- as well as of the outside, and I hâve seen no évidence of certain cérémonies, such 

 as reported by ERDYVEG 1. c. of Tumleo, when thèse belts are put on for the first time. N°. 

 408 — 413, belts of Kaptiau, are manufactured from strips of bamboo or reed and serve 



to fasten the petticoat on the bips. The pattern of N°. 

 408 — 411 is shown in fig. 53, every strip passing in turns 

 over and under three cross strips. 



Very long strips are required for their manufac- 

 ture, long enough to go round the belt three times whilst 

 plaiting; the plaiting of the first turn produces the pattern 

 of fig. 4, the second moreover forms throughout a second 

 intervening strip and then produces, as in the case of N°. 412 

 (PL XVI, fig. 7) and X e . 413, the pattern of fig. 48; the third 

 turn produces the pattern of fig. 53, the herring-bone 

 pattern (see KUBARY [1895, 210, PL XXVII, fig. 15 and 16]; 

 SCHMELTZ [1905, PL IV, fig. 2a]). Besides, Systems of super- 

 ficial, longer stitches, as in the Tugeri belts [1. c. PL IV, fig. 1 



Fig 53. Pattern of plaiting: .under . 



three over three'': herring-bone" pattern. an d ia ]> are ad ded for ornament ; with the Same object, in 



the case of the belts from Abâr (N°. 414 and 415) and from 

 Pujo (X°. 416, PL XVI, fig. 8) the black mycélium lias been used, which is fastened between 

 the superficial stitches. Thèse objects, collected from the women wearing them, were then 

 quickly superseded by a small pièce of rope and carried over the shoulders and the head, a 



