from the top downwards, is shown in the figure. The string for carrying it is very strong. The woman has not only twisted the cord well and stoutly, but has wrapped around it very closely a fine fibre, so as to give additional strength and security.
This bag seems to have been designed for carrying small articles, and must have been attached to some belt at the side, or carried in the hand. The string is too short to allow of its being passed over the head.
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| FIG. 158. |
A flat basket—Fig. 158—formerly in common use amongst the natives of the southern parts of Australia, if not elsewhere, is now rarely seen. It is beautifully woven, very strong, and made in such a form as to be conveniently carried either on the back or on the breast. The size of the basket varies according to the requirements of the maker. Some for young people who have few worldly possessions are small; others in my collection, probably for the use of those who had more wealth in bone-awls and the like, are larger. The flags or grasses of which it is made are variously colored, and advantage is taken of this to give some sort of pattern to the work. Eyre says that in one part of South Australia this basket is called Pool-la-da-noo-ko.
The basket Bin-nuk, Been-ak, or Bo-ut, is of various sizes; and, in selecting the material to make it, due regard is had to the purpose for which it is required. Some are large and strong, in which the women can carry a child; and others quite small, only sufficient to hold their bone-needles, hair, necklaces, and the like. Some are made of a kind of flag—Kur-ra-wan—which is split by the nail and made fit for weaving, and others of Poa Australis and Xerotes longifolia.
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| FIG. 159. |
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| FIG. 160. |
The large baskets are provided with handles, sometimes made of grass or the fibre of the stringybark, so as to admit of their being slung over the back; but the small baskets are not made with handles. Fig. 159 shows a basket made of a kind of flag by a woman of a tribe in Gippsland. The manner in which each row of leaves is fastened to the one above and below is shown in Fig. 160, which represents a portion of three rows of the size of the specimen. The connecting ribbon fastening one row to the other forms a series of loops on the upper surface of each row through which the fastenings of the row above are passed. In addition, there are loops each passing round two of the rows in a pattern up and down the basket, which serve to give greater strength. This basket is nine inches in height, and the diameter at the top is seven inches and a half.
