462 A NATURALIST ON THE " CHALLENGER." 



men are willing to incur in decorating their wives. The males 

 in highly civilised communities revert to the savage condition of 

 profuse decoration only as warriors or officials, and on State 

 occasions. 



Amongst the Admiralty Islanders, the decoration is almost 

 entirely confined to the men, and these seem averse to part with 

 any of their finery to the women. 



The men wear armlets of Trochus niloticus shell, like those of 

 Fiji, the Carolines, and elsewhere. They wear often seven or 

 eight on each arm. The rings are neatly engraved with lines 

 forming lozenge-shaped patterns, and form very effective orna- 

 ments indeed. 



Circular plates, ground out of Tridacna gigas shell, are also 

 worn, either as breastplates or on the front of the head. The 

 discs are faced with plates of thin tortoiseshell, perforated with 

 very elaborated patterns. 



Long style-like ornaments of Tridacna shell are worn de- 

 pendent from the nose. They are closely like those which, in 

 the Solomon Islands, are worn stuck transversely through the 

 septum nasi, but are here always worn dependent by a loop of 

 twine. Ear and nose ornaments are also made of the teeth of 

 the Cuscus of the islands, and crocodiles' teeth. The ears and 

 nose septa are always perforated. Pieces of rolled-up leaf are 

 worn sometimes in the ear (perhaps those of betel pepper). 



Necklaces of native beads of shell or cocoanut wood are also 

 worn. Eings of tortoiseshell are commonly worn in the ears, 

 as at Humboldt Bay. Both waist-belts and armlets of fine 

 plaited work, with patterns in yellow and black, are common. 

 These resemble those of the Aru Islands and Humboldt Bay. 



Charms composed of human bones, usually the humerus, 

 bound up with eagles' feathers, are worn suspended round the 

 neck, and hanging down the back between the shoulders. 



The body is seldom decorated with green leaves, as at Hum- 

 boldt Bay. But leaves are occasionally worn, both hanging 

 down the shoulders and on the arms. I saw them once so worn. 

 Flowers, also, are seldom worn, but a single Hibiscus rosa sinensis 

 flower is occasionally worn in the hair. 



The full-grown men are mostly marked with cicatrizations 



