Figure 106.—Basket ('ato'afa), five-ply bottom finish:

a, the orthodox commencement of a three-ply is made by crossing (2) over (1) and (3) over (2). b, Instead of twisting the back ply (1) over (3) and picking up the next free weft from the left to add to the middle ply, as in three-ply braiding, the back ply (1) is left for the time being and the free weft on the left (4) is crossed over (3) to form a fourth ply. c, The back ply (2) on the right is left as it is and the next free weft on the right (5) is picked up from under (2) and crossed over (4) to the middle position thus forming five plies with page 201three on the left. d, From now on each movement to the middle position is commenced by the next free weft on the side to which the three plies are directed. The next free weft on the left (6) is therefore picked up from beneath (3) and crossed to the middle position over (5). e, The movement is now completed by adding the back ply (1) of the same side to the middle ply position. To comply with the check technique, it is twined with half turn inwards under the ply in front of it (3) and joins (6) in the middle position. f, The next free weft from the right (7) must now cross to the middle position. Instead, however, of crossing both elements of the last ply (1 and 6), the upper element (1) is raised and 7 thus passes over the last new element (6) and under the old one (1). g, The movement must again be completed by twisting the back ply on the same side (2) with a half turn under the ply in front (4) and adding it to the middle position occupied by (7). In joining (7) it passes over the weft (1). The technique is now established on general lines. h, The next movement comes from the left, where the next free weft (8) is picked up from under the middle ply of that side (5) and crossed to the middle position over the last ply (7 and 2). It is then joined by the back weft (3) making a half turn under the ply in front (5). The next movement is commenced by picking up the next free weft on the right (9) from under the middle ply of that side (6 and 1) and passing it over the lower element (8) and under the upper element (3) of the last ply used as was done in the similar previous movement from that side by the weft (7). Complications have now occurred through the presence of the extra element formed by the weft (1). The orthodox movement already established is to twist the back weft (4) under the ply in front (6 and 1) on its way to join 9 in the middle position. Before completing the orthodox movement, the extra element is twisted over with a half turn to join (9) in the middle position. k, The movement from the right is then completed by twisting the back weft (4) under the weft (6) in front and adding it to the middle ply where it rests on (9 and 1). The middle ply thus contains three elements of which the undrermost one is the last new weft added (9). m, The next movement from the left in imagination is commenced by lifting up the next free weft (10) from under the middle ply on that side (7 and 2) and crossing it over the last ply used (1, 4, and 9) to the middle position. The middle ply on the left has two elements (7 and 2). The upper of these (2) is twisted over directly into the middle position with (10) thus leaving the newer element (7) to form the outer twisting element for a later movement. The back weft (5) is then twisted under the weft (7) in front of it and joins the middle ply. The middle ply formed by such a movement contains three elements (10, 5, and 2) of which the undermost is the last added free weft 10. When the next movement from the right is made, the new free weft (11) will pass over the undermost element (10) and the other elements of the new ply over the other elements of the last ply (5 and 2). The complete technique of the five-weft plait can now be understood. In each movement to establish the now composite plies in the middle position, the new weft element is always placed first. It is thus at the bottom of the ply and is left out for one movement to furnish the outer twisted margin of the braid. The upper elements of the back ply, be they two or more, are all twisted in directly to the middle position, but the lowest element is always left out to form the outer twist. The left-out twist element of the previous ply of that side is then twisted in last under the left-out twist weft in front of it and forms the third and uppermost addition to the middle ply. It thus covers most of the inner twist formed by the extra elements and gives the braid a neat appearance.