DRESS AND ADORNMENT. 501 



carries snuff-spoons, etc.," in addition to its value as a distinc- 

 tion. Of one tribe it is said that they wear most exquisite hel- 

 mets, formed of their own hair ; these cost an infinity of care 

 and trouble and time, and are resplendent with beads, ostrich- 

 plumes, and metal crest. To attempt the barest outline of the 

 diversity of hair-dressing, however, would take us too far. With 

 two or three examples, outside the African area, we must stop. 

 The Fijians are remarkably fond of grand coiffures. Williams 

 tells us that " many chiefs have a special hair-dresser, to whom 

 they sometimes devote several hours a day. Their heads of 

 hair are frequently three feet in circumference one was nearly 

 five feet. They also dye their naturally black hair at times to 

 white, flaxen, or red." A curious point may be mentioned in this 

 connection. 



Such head-decorations would be injured were one to lie down 

 and rest his head upon the ground, so a special type of wooden 

 pillow is used in Fiji. It is placed under the neck, and keeps the 

 hair free of the ground. 

 Similar pillows are found 

 wherever such care is be- 

 stowed in hair - dressing 

 as in Africa and Japan 

 to-day, and in Egypt 

 thousands of years ago. 

 The cases already given 

 are ornamental simply, FlG< i 2 ._Fwi Pillow. 



or indicative of rank ; 



hair-dressing may, however, become a tribal or family mark. The 

 Siamese tuft " lotus bud " is such a case, as are also the Chi- 

 nese queue, and the curious styles of hair-dressing that distin- 

 guish gentes among our Indian tribes. 



Here we have a host of curious customs before us. From them 

 we may draw some general conclusions. Leaving for the present 

 all the religious significance of these mutilations and deformations 

 aside, we find 



First. These alterations are an actual gain or advantage in 

 several ways : (a) as tribal marks ; (b) family signs ; (c) social 

 distinctions. 



Second. Whatever the actual original significance of deforma- 

 tions, they illustrate the action of two important contrary laws : 



(a) A law of strife for self-assertion or individualization ; this 

 really operates as the beginning of every one of these we have 

 considered. The man who has done something, feels himself to 

 be some one desires to mark himself off from the rest visibly. 



(b) But the law of imitation leads to that which was at first an 

 individualizing thing, becoming customary and fashionable. 



