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Samoan Material Culture

Baskets made of sennit

Baskets made of sennit

Baskets made of sennit ('ato to) were used in olden days and, though the technique is not plaiting, they are grouped here for convenience. They were used by tufunga (builders) to carry their adzes and tools for making houses and canoes and were thus called 'ato to (to, to build). They are very scarce but one was obtained at Ofu and another in Savaii. The Savaii basket was said by the owner to have been in his family for eight generations, but the age may have been augmented by pecuniary motives. He called the basket an 'ato fa'apaupau and quoted as his authority the saying applied to wicked people likening them to an 'ato fa'apaupau. Paupau means ancient and has come to signify heathen to the Christianized Samoan.

The example basket shown in Plate XVI, B, is made of three-ply sennit braid but two-ply twisted sennit is said to have been also used. The technique has been forgotten for baskets but fortunately it survives in the scoop nets made for the small ingana fish in Savaii. (See p. 442.) There is thus no doubt that the technique is native wherever it may have diffused in from in pre-European times. In the Savaii basket, the rim was formed of seven strands page 208of sennit braid round which the working braid was looped after forming each mesh in the last row at the rim.

In the smaller Ofuan basket the technique is the same in all respects but the braid is smaller. It was described to Mr. Judd as an ola fangota (fishing basket) for carrying bait. The use of bait cannot be old. It was probably used for containing trolling hooks (pa) and line and the functional use of the name was loosely applied for the true ola fangota is made of coconut leaflets. The smaller basket obtained by Mr. Judd was the first of the type to be recorded from Samoa. Its authenticity as Samoan work was rightly doubted until the Savaii basket and the white bait scoop proved that the technique was known in Samoa.

Figure 110.—Coiled basket technique:

Figure 110.—Coiled basket technique:

a, the coil (1) is an inner or upper coil already wrapped and attached to the preceding coil while coil (2) is the working coil that is being wrapped with the pandanus strip (3); b, to form the technical stitch, the pandanus strip (3) instead of making another turn around the working coil (2) is carried over the adjacent coil (1); c, the strip is brought around the back of coil (1) and passed through between the coils to the left of its first course. It is then turned transversely to the right to cross over its first turn. d, The end is passed back between the coils on the right and after being drawn taut is inclined obliquely downwards at the back of the working coil (2) so as to come into position for continuing the wrapping. e, The wrapping of the working coil continues until the next stitch is required.