Rice winnowers and sieves (Plate LVII) and the fish-traps shown in Fig. 13 conclude the list.  No coiled baskets are made.

Aside from the decoration produced by variations in the weave, little ornamentation is found in the basketry from Abra, but the Tinguian of Ilocos Norte make and distribute large quantities of baskets with colored patterns.  Colored vines are sometimes woven in, but the common method is to employ blackened bamboo, both in warp and weft.

The top of the basket is strengthened by two hoops of rattan or bamboo.  One is placed outside, the other inside; on them is laid a small strip of the same material, and all three are sewed down by passing a thin strip of rattan through two holes punched in margin.  This strip doubles on itself, encircles the rim, and after an interval again passes through two more holes, and so on around the entire basket.  A square base, attached in the same manner as the rim, generally completes the basket.  In the mountain districts near to Apayao, the bases of the smaller eating dishes are drawn in toward the center at four points, giving the effect of a four-pointed star.

Mats (ikamin).—­Mats are used as beds, never as floor coverings.  They are rectangular in form, usually about six feet long and three wide, and are undecorated.  They are made from strips of pandanus in the laga weave (cf. p. 423).

Dyes.—­In recent years analine dyes have come into favor in some villages, and a variety of colors appears in the articles made by their weavers, but the vegetable dyes used by the ancestors are still employed by most of the women.  The commonest colors are blue, pink—­“black red”—­, red, and yellow.

Blue is ordinarily produced by placing the leaves and branches of the indigo plant, tayuni (Indigofera tinctoria)in water for a few days; then to boil them, together with a little lime.  The thread is dipped in the liquid.

Pink is secured by crushing lynga (Sesamum indicum L.) seeds and boiling them in water.  Threads are placed in this for five nights, while during the day they are dried in the sun.  The root of the apatot (Morinda citrifolia or umbellata) is next crushed, and water is added.  The threads are now transferred to this liquid, and for ten days and nights are alternately soaked and sunned.  A copper color results, but this soon changes to pink.  It is said that the apatot alone produces a red dye.  It is also claimed that the seeds of the apang (Bixa Orellana L.) and of a variety of rattan, when boiled, give a permanent red. [243]

A yellow dye is produced by boiling the leaves of the Tamarindus indica L. in water until a strong liquor is obtained.

Bark head-bands are stained a purplish-red by applying a liquid secured through boiling kelyan (Diospyros cunalon D.C.?) bark.  For ceremonial purposes they are also colored yellow by applying the juice of the konig (Curcuma longa), but as this has a disagreeable odor, and the color is not permanent, it is not much used in every-day garments.  Lemon juice is also applied to bark to give it a yellow hue.