I'm no expert by any stretch of the imagination. I only know what I've read and what I've been told. Land passed through from the mother as well as many personal posessions. While there were chieftans, male leaders it was the women, the eldest who greatly influenced or made the final decisions in regards to village life. It is believed that this is one of the reasons the Chamorro people have been able to preserve so much of their culture after so many hundreds of years of foreign occupation. Especially early on, Europeans did not realize the importance and status women held in the Marianas and that is probably a good thing. Women preserved the language and customs. Men could put on western clothes, get jobs etc but it was the women who held on to the traditions and beliefs of the people.

Yeah I was thinking the exact same thing myself.  I'd love a copy of one of these slings, if not a pattern for making one myself.

So, Picaru, that`s your trick for keeping the pouch strands tidyer.  Fortunately I did not see it before I made my first such sling, it would have made it way to easy .

great stories and love the looks of the sling pouches.

It's interesting how different cultures produce the same basic tool but witrh very different ways of holding the stone secure. 

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Let me know what I can do to help.

Making matched sets, sling and stone.

Acho' Atupat