Carrying bags.  These are all made of network.  I shall say something about the mode of netting and colouring them hereafter, and will here only deal with the bags and their use.  They are of various sizes,

(1) There are the large bags used by women for carrying heavy objects, such as firewood, vegetables and fruit, which they bring back to the village on their return in the afternoon from the gardens and bush.  These bags are carried in the usual way, the band over the opening of the bag being passed across the front of the head above the forehead, and the bag hanging over the back behind.  They are curved in shape, the ends of the bag being at both its top and bottom edges higher than are the centres of those edges, so that, when a bag is laid out flat, its top line is a concave one and its bottom line is a convex one.  The network at the two ends of the top line is continued into the loop band by means of which the bag is carried.  The usual dimensions of one of these bags, as it lies flat and unstretched on a table (the measurements being made along the curved lines) are as follows—­top line about 2 feet, bottom line about 3 feet, and side lines about 18 inches.  But when filled with vegetables, firewood, etc., they expand considerably, especially those made of “Mafulu network,” of which I shall speak hereafter.  These bags are uncoloured. (2) There are similar, but somewhat smaller, bags, in which the women carry lighter things, and which in particular they use for carrying their babies.  They frequently carry this bag and the larger one together; and you will often see a woman with a big bag heavily laden with vegetables or firewood or both, and another smaller bag (perhaps also slung behind over the top of the big one, or hanging from her head at her side, or over her breast), which contains her baby, apparently rolled up into a ball.  These bags also are uncoloured. (3) There are other bags, similar perhaps in size to No. 2, used for visiting and at feasts, dances and similar occasions, and also sometimes used for carrying babies.  The top line of one of these is generally about 2 feet long, the bottom line a trifle longer, and the side lines about 1 foot.  These are coloured in decorative patterns. (4) There are small bags of various sizes carried by men slung over their shoulders or arms, and used to hold their betel-nut, pepper and tobacco and various little implements and utensils of daily life.  These are sometimes uncoloured and sometimes coloured. (5) There are the very small charm bags, only about 2 inches or a trifle more square, which are used by both men and women (I think only the married ones) for carrying charms, and are worn hanging like lockets from the neck.  They are sometimes coloured.

Plate 53 gives illustrations of three of these bags—­Fig. 1 being a woman’s ornamented bag No. 3, and Fig. 2 being a man’s ornamented bag No. 4; but this last-mentioned bag is rather a large one of its type, the usual difference in size between Nos. 3 and 4 being greater than the two examples figured would suggest.  The patterns of both these bags, and especially of the larger one, are more regular than is usually the case.  The bag shown in Fig. 3 will be dealt with hereafter under the heading of netting.