The native females use a great many kinds of bags and baskets. They carry all their little treasures in the large bags when they are travelling. Fig. 153 shows a large bag or basket, made of the leaves of the common reed (Phragmites communis) which grows abundantly on the banks of the Rivers Yarra and Goulburn. The material is twisted into a rope, and arranged in loops, as shown in Fig. 154.
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| FIG. 153.—(Scale .) |
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| FIG. 154.—(Scale ⅓.) |
The above figure is drawn from a bag presented to the late Mr. A. F. A. Greeves, in 1840, by Mary, the wife of Benbow, at that time the principal man of the Yarra tribe. I have never seen a bag or basket resembling this in use, but it was common amongst the Aborigines of the Yarra and Goulburn prior to the arrival of the whites. Though it is now old, it is yet a strong and useful bag, the material of which it is made being durable; and it is well and neatly put together.
The net-bag—Bel-ang or Pel-ling—(Fig. 155)—is made of the fibre obtained from bark, or of the hair of the native cat or opossum, and it is of all sizes.
