排灣族巫師箱 Paiwan Shamanic Kit

The wooden bottom part is red-painted, decorated with coppers and shells; the upper part is a netting pocket, its mouth is decorated with small rattan rings and a strand that can tie up the mouth. Hollowing out a whole section of a log is the most common approach to make a kit. All sides of the kit, except the bottom, are made with carvings. The themes of carvings usually are humans and animals: the patterns of hundred-pace snake (Deinagkistrodon) and deer are the most typical. Items equipped with the kit are diverse in different tribes. But, generally, the kit is equipping with small knives, bamboo tubes, wooden-square plates, pig skins, pig bones, bark, nuts, small gourds, and pebbles. Purchase by Edward F. Conyngham in Zhonghua Rd. shopping center (Taipei), donated to the Museum of the Institute of Ethnology in 2002.