l8o G. A. J. VAN DER SANDE. 



The cord for the bags, is, as far as can be judged in H. B. and surroundings, 

 generally made of Ar to ca rj>us-ba.rk fibres, although for the better class, the bark fibre of 

 Hibiscus tiliaceu s, praised also by KRIEGER [1899, 50] for this purpose, is used. Near 

 Waba I saw a man tearing very white fibres out of the inner parts of the bark of a shrub, 

 intended for men's bags. The shrub was possibly Picerar ia novo guine ensis, according 

 to KRIEGER [1. c. 68] especially used for the cord of the bags. This white material becomes 

 eventually dark in colour, from dirt and especially from contact with the skin ; it even happens 

 that the kind of stitch cannot be distinguished until the bag has been cleaned. With finer 

 bags (N°. 641), it is therefore not unusual to suspend a pièce of prepared bark at the back 

 of the bag, in order to protect it against perspiration and dirt of the body (see fig. 143). 



For the purpose of ornamenting the bags, the cord is often made of fibres dyed 

 beforehand, or else the already made cord is afterwards coloured with a liquid pigment, 

 in which case the colouring often does not penetrate to the interior fibres. It is also not 

 unusual, in places where traders import coloured calico, to find the cord made of the 

 threads of this (red and blue in bag N°. 640). In the place where the colours blend. the 

 twisting of the differently coloured fibres can be recognised. For, during the work, as already 

 described by BlRO [1901, 58], the twine is "angestiickelt", and the tying or knotting of the 

 twine is generally avoided, both with the bags, the aprons, the bandoliers, the girdles, 

 etc. SCHELLONG [1905, 606] wrongly places the fabric of the bags on a line with that 

 of the fishing nets. It is better to avoid such terms as "netting", "plaiting", "Knùpfmethode" 

 (Finsch [1888a, 29], [1888—93, 205]) and "Knupfarbeit" (Hagen [1899, 180]) as, like the 

 term "Flechten" of BlRO [1901, 58], they lead one astray. It is more correct to call it 

 "knitting" (Von ROSENBERG [1875, 93]) or "Filetstrickerei" (HAGEN [1899, 180]), as the 

 technical principle of the bags only requires a single continuous thread. No warp and 

 weft occur, crossing each other at right angles, nor crossings with oblique angles of numerous 

 threads, according to the technical terminology required for the real webs and for plaited 

 work respectively. The thread can be moved more or less in the meshes or loops, as is the 

 case with the knitted work of stockings, where also each row of loops bears another row. 



WqMEN'S BAGS, whether belonging to the extrême east or the extrême west of the 

 island, are, without exception, made with the simple "figure eight" stitch of fig. 9, page 

 37, which proves, in connection with what has been stated above, that the whole population 

 is allied in this respect. Thèse bags are begun with the border, which forms the edge of 

 the opening, either, as shown on PL XXI, fig. 9 of a bag, dari, from Fak Fak (West New 

 Guinea) and by BlRO [1901, 59, fig. 1] of Astrolabe Bay, simply by hand, or the stitches 

 are applied to short cylindrical meshpins or split leaves [1. c. fig. 2]. No use is made of 

 "knitting needles", neither hère nor elsewhere; the loops of the stitches are wide enough 

 to pass through the end of the thread after twisting it into a point between the fingers. The 

 run of the rows is spiral and the end of the string is to be found in one of the lower corners. 



The bags of the women are always larger than those of the men ; N°. 626 of Tarfia 

 even reaches a breadth of 120 and a depth of 42 cm. In conformity with the size of the 

 objects, as agricultural produce, pièces of fire wood, etc., which hâve to be carried in them, 

 the stitches of the bags are sometimes as high as 4 cm. and as wide as 2 cm., the bag 

 thus easily adapts itself to the shape of the contents. In the west (Fak Fak) the large bags, 



