Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula - Sabrizain.org

CHAP. VIII GENERAL REMARKS 377
Basket-work.
The following remarks about basket-work fairly
apply to all three races :— Basket-work is perhaps one of
the most important industries of the aboriginal women.
It is frequently employed not only for the manufacture
of the all-important dossier or back-basket in which the
varied products of the jungle are carried homewards,
but also for many of the traps in which birds, fishes,
and some of the smaller mammalia are captured. The
work is as a rule beautifully executed, and in plaiting
the aboriginal women can rival the Malays. Split
rattan and split bamboo are perhaps the most usual
materials employed for these purposes, as they are not
only strong but pliant and durable. But like all jungle
folk, these races naturally adapt themselves to the
necessities of their surroundings, and of course use
whatever plant grows most handily for their purpose.
Thus not unfrequently the stem of the " bemban " is
selected, even though it lacks the durability of the
other materials referred to. And the fibrous inner
cuticle of several kinds of trees (such as Artoca^-pus,
which furnishes the bark cloth) is yet another source
of supply.^
Network and Weaving.
Network, on the other hand, seems to be but
scantily practised by any of these tribes, except, per-
haps, where Malay influence is appreciable, and of
the actual weaving of any, even the roughest kind, of
cloth, there is no record whatever.
1 See p. 376, opp.