As a rule the women of this tribe are not good potters and take little pride in their work. In some districts the art has been entirely lost, and the people depend on the coast natives for their cooking utensils. At the village of Bansalan the women were found still to be proficient in their work. After the dampened clay had been carefully kneaded in order to remove lumps and gravel, the bottom of the jar was moulded with the fingers and placed on a dish which was turned on a bit of cloth or a board and answered the purpose of a potter's wheel. As the dish was turned with the right hand the operator shaped the clay with the fingers of the left adding fresh strips of material from time to time until the desired size was obtained. The final shaping was done with a wooden paddle and the jar was allowed to dry, after which it was smoothed off with a stone. When ready for firing it was placed in the midst of a pile of rubbish, over which green leaves were placed to cause a slow fire.
Other dishes are made by splitting a cocoanut in half and removing the "meat." This is readily accomplished by the use of a scraper fitted with a rough iron blade (Fig. 25), over which the concave side or the half nut is drawn. The cocoanut meat is used for food and oil.
A little later we shall describe the active part woman takes in the planting and care of the fields, but now we shall take up in some detail the industry in which she stands pre-eminent, the preparation and weaving of hemp.
The hemp ordinarily stripped by the men is considered too fine to be used in the manufacture of clothing, so a smaller stripping device is employed by the woman (Plate XX). On this she cleans the outer layers of the hemp stalk, from which a stronger and coarser thread can be obtained. The fiber is tied in a continuous thread and is wound onto a reel. The warp threads are measured on sharpened sticks driven into a hemp or banana stalk, and are then transferred to a rectangular frame (Plate XXI). The operator, with the final pattern in mind, overties or wraps with waxed threads, such portions of the warp as she desires to remain white in the completed garment. So carefully does she wrap these sections, that, when the thread is removed from the frame and placed in the liquid dye, no portion of the coloring matter penetrates to the portions thus protected. If a red color is desired the root of the _sikarig_[17] palm is scraped and the scrapings placed in bark vats filled with cold water. The thread is first washed in, and is later boiled with the dye for a half hour, after which it is placed in a basket to drain and dry. The process is repeated daily for about two weeks, or until the thread assumes a brick red color. If a purple hue is desired a little lime is added to the dye. Black is obtained by a slightly different method. The leaves, root, and bark of the _pinarrEm_ tree are crushed in water. This yields a black liquor which is poured into a jar containing the thread and the whole is placed over a slow fire where it remains until the liquid is near the boiling point. When this is reached the thread is removed and placed in a gourd, the open end of which fits over the jar so as to catch the steam coming from the dye. After a time the thread is removed and dried, and the process is repeated until at last a permanent black is obtained. After the coloring is complete the thread is again placed on the rectangular frame, the over-tying is removed and the warp is ready for the loom (Plate XXII.) In the loom (Plate XXIII) the threads encircle a bamboo pole attached to the wall, and are held tense by a strap which passes around the waist of the operator. The weft threads are forced up against the fabric by means of the comber board and are beaten in with a baton. The warp threads are held in their relative positions, first by the comber board, second by loops which pass under the lower threads and over a small stick or lease rod, and lastly by passing over and under, or around, other lease rods. These are rolled away as the work progresses.