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BURMESE TEXLILES.
35

treatment of the warp ends to form a knotted fringe is an interesting feature in this head-dress. These ends, after being grouped and twisted, are arranged in fours, and the two middle strands form a base upon which the left and right strands are knotted alternately as shewn in Figure 25b.

GS 15a (Fig. 26). The head-dress, part of the decoration of which is illustrated in Figure 26, (p. 32) belonged to a Shan woman of the well-to-do class. It is a very good piece of native workmanship, consisting of a strip of black cloth 17 cm. (6¾in.) wide, and 266 cm. (8ft. 9in.) long, exclusive of the fringed ends which are somewhat uneven in length, but average 27 cm. (10⅝in.) The whole of the head-dress is covered with decoration, the central portion with ever-varying spot motives based upon the lozenge and swastika, and the ends, to a depth of about 32 cm. (12⅛in.) with striped borders based upon the same motives. This elaborate and typical pattern has been produced by 'brocade weaving.'

GS 22 (Fig. 27) is a head-dress consisting of a strip of black native cloth 216 cm. long, 32 cm. wide, with striped ends 26 cm. in depth. The stripes are produced by a silk weft and consist of bands 5 cm. in width, each separated from the next by a still narrower stripe made up of one short of gold, one of crimson, two white, one crimson and one gold, represented in the diagram by black lines (Fig. 27a). Two bands of embroidery worked with the same silks as those used in the weaving add variety, the design being based upon the lozenge. A particularly effective feature is the treatment of the edge, gold foil, strengthened by a paper backing, is bent over so as to form a narrow band on both sides, this is kept in place by a buttonhole stitching in green (Fig. 27b). The foil, which is .3 cm. wide, is of Chinese origin.

Chinese Shan Cap.
Chinese Shan Cap.

GS 61n and GS 55n are two other Shan head-dresses. The former is a three yard length of spot muslin of Lancashire manufacture, dyed black with a native dye. The latter is a strip of black native cloth, effectively decorated by a border of silvery-white stripes at either end. These stripes have been produced by the use of a fine, natural grass as weft.

Besides the turban type of head-dress, of which the foregoing are all examples, some tribes wear other forms, and of these the group in the collection belonging to the Kaw tribe are particularly interesting. They consist of several narrow circlets of cane superimposed on one another to form a flat ring about three or four inches (7.5 to 10 cm.) high; from these arise the curious structures, also of cane, shewn in Figure 28. (p. 34) The circlets are almost identical for all the head-dresses, but the covering of the vertical structure indicates whether the owner is maid, married woman, or widow. Thus, in the maiden's head-dress, there is only a partial covering of the vertical portion, and it is decorated with festoons of Job's tears; the married woman's structure is covered with blue cloth, and there are no Job's tears at all;