Englisch | Englisch Three half-sisters of a Piro family living in Miaria on the Upper Urubamba go by boat to a place where they find wild growing reed (Gynerium spec.). They detach the inner ribs of the reed-leaves, tie them into bundles and take them home. After this they select in the nearby forest a tree with a flexible fibrous bark, strip the bark from the tree, remove the inner bark and carry it home. In the house Laura, the second sister, who will make a mat, lays a double bast strip on the ground, places the ribs of the reed-leaves at right angle between the bast strips, and passes bast fibers through the leaf-ribs (technique of wicker basket weave in the main part and of twined weave at the edges). After plaiting from the middle one half of the mat, Laura turns round and makes the second half. The protruding ends of the leaf-ribs are then cut, the ends of the bast strips knotted at the edge of the mat. Laura calls her smaller brothers and sisters and they sit down with her on the new mat. |