182 



G. A. J. VAX DER SANDE. 



of the hair. In this manner girls and women can, and must, carry heavy loads, to the great 

 annoyance of most European visitors. When I was buying bag N°. 629, one of the men 

 showed me its use; hanging the empty bag on his back, the sling laid along his forehead, 

 he pretended that the bag was filled with a heavy load and walked with his body bent 

 fonvard, sighing with assumed exertion, with bent knees and short steps. The représen- 

 tation left nothing to be desired in its vivid exhibition of cruelty and barbarism; that the 

 women themselves shared in the gênerai hilarity, only proves that the heavy, daily labour is 

 not looked upon by them as an injustice. On Lake Sentâni great distances were never 

 covered with thèse heavy loads, as the gardens could ail be reached by boat. 



Pregnancy (van der Goes [1858, 159]) is no reason for exemption, and 

 Hagex [1899, PI. 36] gives an illustration of a woman of Tamo returning 

 from the garden, who, besides her filled bag, carries on lier back a bundle 

 of fire wood and a baby in her arm. Under such circurastances it becomes 

 intelligible that sometimes a patch of white hair is to be found (Pratt 

 [1906, 303]) and even an impression on the head, at the point where 

 the sling has pressed (Finsch [1888 — 93, m]). When the bag is empty, 

 the baby is sometimes put into the same, and it is then occasio- 

 nally suspended in front of the body, the sling lying across the crown 

 of the head (Thomson [1892, 80]), whilst at other times (Finsch 

 [1888, 40], [1S88 — 93, 108]) the bag is carried at the side with thé 

 sling over the shoulder. The young Papuan is able to slumber peacefully 

 inside; at home the bag is sometimes suspended from the rafters and kept 

 in motion by the mother, like a rocking cradle. Morphy [1904, 331] 

 calls it "a rnost ingenious composite cradle and mosquito net combined" ; 

 the last qualification is, however, incorrect, for the women's bags of the 

 territory indicated by the author, on the continent opposite Yule Island, 

 are the same as those of the Netherl. territory and can be recognised on 

 his photo, manufactured with the common "figure eight" stitch, through 

 which mosquitoes easily pass. Nobody will be surprised to learn that 

 women also carry their favourite dog, in its turn, in the bag, as seen by 

 D'Albertis [1SS0, I, 92] amongst the Hâtam people. 



The way in which the women take up their loads, I 

 when the expédition used women as carriers; they then spread 

 out their bags on the ground, placed inside the often very heterogeneous objects, crouched down 

 with their backs against the load, placed the sling along the front of their head and then 

 rose straight up with their loads. 



The MEN'S BAGS are only intended for carrying articles of daily use, to be compared 

 with our dressing bags and valises. 



Some four différent stitches are, however, to be noticed on the same, which 

 make a différence in the outward appearance. One of thèse four kinds of stitches again turns 

 out to be our simple "figure eight" stitch (fig. 9), but considerably smaller than in the 

 case of the women's bags. It is only applied in the larger, coarser, mostly uncoloured, square 

 bags (N os . 630 — 633), intended for holding not too small objects. 



The mode of manufacture and the point where thèse bags are begun, do not appear 



Fig. 115. 



Pattern of sling for carrying bags. 



could see on every occasion, 



