Chap. XIX. Alan — Love of Ornament. 575 



sliapo of the skull was formerly modified during infancy in the 

 most extraordinary manner, as is still the case in many places, 

 and such deformities are considered ornamental. For instance, 

 the savages of Colombia 45 deem a much flattened head " an 

 " essential point of beauty." 



The hair is treated with especial care in various countries ; it 

 is allowed to grow to full length, so as to reach to the ground, or 

 is combed into " a compact frizzled mop, which is the Papuan's 

 " pride and glory." 46 In Northern Africa "a man requires a 

 " period of from eight to ten years to perfect his coiffure." With 

 other nations the head is shaved, and in parts of South America 

 and Africa even the eyebrows and eyelashes are eradicated. The 

 natives of the Upper Nile knock out the four front teeth, saying 

 that they do not wish to resemble brutes. Further south, the 

 Batokas knock out only the two upper incisors, which, as 

 Livingstone' 17 remarks, gives the face a hideous appearance, 

 owing to the prominence of the lower jaw; but these people think 

 the presence of the incisors most unsightly, and on beholding 

 some Europeans, cried out, " Look at the great teeth ! " The 

 chief Sebituani tried in vain to alter this fashion. In various 

 parts of Africa and in the Malay Archipelago the natives file the 

 incisors into points like those of a saw, or pierce them with 

 holes, into which they insert studs. 



As the face with us is chiefly admired for its beauty, so with 

 savages it is the chief seat of mutilation. In all quarters of the 

 world the septum, and more rarely the wings of the nose are 

 pierced ; rings, sticks, feathers, and other ornaments being in- 

 serted into the holes. The ears are everywhere pierced and 

 similarly ornamented, and with the Botocudos and Lenguas of 

 South America the hole is gradually so much enlarged that the 

 lower edge touches the shoulder. In North and South America 

 and in Africa either the upper or low 7 er lip is pierced ; and with 

 the Botocudos the hole in the lower lip is so large that a disc of 

 wood, four inches in diameter, is placed in it. Mantegazza gives 

 a curious account of the shame felt by a South American native, 

 and of the ridicule which he excited, when Iw sold his tembtta, — 

 the large coloured piece of wood which is passed through the 

 hole. In Central Africa the women perforate the lower lip and 

 wear a crystal, w r hich, from the movement of the tongue, has " a 

 " wriggling motion, indescribably ludicrous during conversation." 



45 Quoted by Prichard, <Phys. 445. On the coiffure of the Afri> 

 Hist, of Mankind,' 4th edit. vol. i. cans, Sir S. Baker, 'The Albert 

 1851, p. 321. N'ywus,' vol. i. p. 210. 



46 On the Papuans, Wallace, * 7 ' Travels,' p. 533. 

 1 The Malay Archipelago,' vol. ii. p. 



