Annals of the South African MuseumAnnale van die Suid-Afrikaanse Museum . (= *H. crinita Gaertn.) and *H. ventricosa Kirk. Among theNguni speakers the fan palm is called ilala, and elsewhere by various forms ofthe same root word, but in Botswana it is known as mokola, mokolane and mo-kolwane. In the south-east, the wild date Phoenix reclinata Jacq, known asisundu (Xhosa, Thembu, South Tsonga), is used. Along the east coast, wherethe coconut palm has been introduced, its leaves are used. For certain purposes the palm-leaf is used whole, in which case the leaffolioles are merely separated and wo
Annals of the South African MuseumAnnale van die Suid-Afrikaanse Museum . (= *H. crinita Gaertn.) and *H. ventricosa Kirk. Among theNguni speakers the fan palm is called ilala, and elsewhere by various forms ofthe same root word, but in Botswana it is known as mokola, mokolane and mo-kolwane. In the south-east, the wild date Phoenix reclinata Jacq, known asisundu (Xhosa, Thembu, South Tsonga), is used. Along the east coast, wherethe coconut palm has been introduced, its leaves are used. For certain purposes the palm-leaf is used whole, in which case the leaffolioles are merely separated and woven on the midrib. Such is the cover madefor covering the cups in which palm sap is collected, made of a small leaf of afan palm with the folioles woven chequer. This may be done while the leaf is stillgreen. For the most part, however, palm-leaves are dried, then the folioles arestripped off the midrib, which is also kept for use. The folioles may be usedwhole or split, if necessary, and sorted. Before use they are soaked in water. *—See Appendix 3 for current Fig. 110. Palm (*Hyphaene ventricosa Kirk), Ovamboland. BASKETWORK OF SOUTHERN AFRICA 193 The initiation costumes of the Southern Nguni are made of whole Phoenix re-clinata folioles taken off the midrib and secured with lattice wrapping over acord. Far more commonly, and particularly those of Hyphaene spp., the foliolesare split to the required width for use. In woven work, strips 5-25 mm wide are used for weaving chequer ortwilled baskets (Ambo), mats (Ambo, Tsonga), winnowing trays (Tsonga andChopi), ankle rattles (?Mpondo), and especially for the pouches that are foundall along the east coast and in the Kavango territory. For twilled beer-strainersthat are found in the south-east, the strips are split to follow the naturaldecrease of the leaf and their use provides the required decrease in the beer-strainer. Stripped leaves of Hyphaene are said to have been used sometimes aswefts of Zulu grain-bins. The only
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