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Chapter One. The Material Background |
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basketry and baskets, mats and winnowing fans |
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Basketry was an important craft, for baskets were required for the transport and storage of most commodities. When a Konyak set out on any enterprise, be it trading, or fishing, or a head-hunting raid, he would carry the appropriate type of basket. Men setting out for work on the fields invariably transported their implements in a basket, carried in the customary manner by means of a strap across the forehead; at harvest time the crop was brought home in large conical baskets, and in the granaries rice was stored in big flat-based, coarsely woven basket bins. Baskets were also the only receptacles for the storage of textiles and valuables, and bamboo mats served as seats and as convenient ground cover for such operations as the drying of rice and vegetables. They also formed an important article of trade, for in the plains of Assam the well-plaited Konyak mats and winnowing fans found a ready market. Moreover, bamboo wattle was used as house walls and as flooring on the open platforms of house and morung. |
