Fiji Bamboo & Wickery

Bamboo is prolific in Fiji, and there are according to the authority on Fiji plants, John Parham, two varieties. The commonly-seen and -used one (used for rafts and construction and a host of other uses) is the Bambusa vulgaris, which he says was “an early introduction” which probably means it came from SE Asia (the area called Wallacea that includes Indonesia and nearby archipelagoes) with the first settlers. The second is the decorative variety Bambusa multiplex, a later introduction according to Parham, probably post-European I would guess. 

The utility of the bamboo for weaving depends on the length of nodes, and the stage of development when it is harvested. For weaving baskets, which is mainly (though not only) done in the highlands where as Ray says the coconut and pandanus do not prosper. When I watched the weaving of baskets up there, the plants selected had fairly long inter-nodes. They were harvested in the early morning and taken back to the village to be used immediately, because even by midday they started to harden off. They were about 2-3 cm diameter, quite whippy and thin-walled and were immediately slit quite fine (less than 1cm) with a stout sharp knife. The sharp edges were then rubbed with a piece of pumice to blunt them, and they were ready to use. I attach a photo of the two bamboo collecting baskets two women made for me that morning, still green, and one that had already dried out. The green ones took a couple of months to completely go yellow. I gave one to the Fiji Museum — which rather incredibly had none at all. The straps are plaited pandanus (they obtain it from the coast) and are used to carry the baskets full of produce like a rucksack.

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Another bamboo basket that was made for me by an old grandmother who was the last one who knew how to make them, down in the Rewa delta — Fiji’s largest river, about 40 miles from Suva. I was reminded of this when I read your account, Robert, of the women in Chile making abalone-collecting baskets for their husbands. This one was made by women in Rewa for their own use when gathering the large black river-clams. It was tied to the waist. Called i-kata. As you see, the weaving style is rather similar to the ketekete collecting baskets from the highlands over a hundred miles away.  

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Dr Roderick Ewins 

Adjunct Researcher, School of Creative Arts, University of Tasmania