Footloop – for a palm tree3D Model
The footloop was a common piece of equipment used by the Bakundu people to climb tree trunks in order to obtain fruit or seeds (including coconut or oil palms). Resembling a horseshoe in shape, it has loops on both ends, which were put on the feet, while the trunk was embraced with a semi-circular belt. As the climber rose higher up the palm, this belt would be slung further up the trunk. The belt would be dropped when the weight of the body passed onto the hands. This technique thus resembled the climbing of telegraph poles, but instead of hooks that provide a grip on the smooth surface of the pole, the footloop was cast onto natural bulges or steps of the trunk.
Inventory number: 18762/MEK
Bakundu people before 1885, Cameroon
The Seweryn Udziela Ethnographic Museum in Kraków
CC0 Public DomainCC0 Public Domain
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