BEESS AND ADORNMENT. 



51 



copied in glass and metals. Glass beads liave gone the world 

 over. They have replaced many old materials, and have wrought 

 great changes in many lines of aboriginal art Avork. But, there 

 are beads and beads ! Fashion changes as often among savages 

 as with ourselves, 

 and the bead so 

 highly prized to- 

 day may be worth- 

 less to - morrow. 

 In Africa iron 

 beads are always 

 good, but glass 

 beads fluctuate. 

 One author tells 

 us " they prefer as 

 beads the * mand- 

 yoor' — long poly- 

 hedral prisms as 

 large as a bean 

 and as blue as 

 lapis lazuli." But 

 woe to the trader 

 who took a stock 

 of ma n dyoo r 

 there to - day ! 

 They might be a 

 drug on the mar- 

 ket. It may seem 

 as if we have 

 been too detailed 

 in describing all 

 these savage and 

 barbaric decora- 

 tions. We have 

 simply aimed to 

 show how varied in material and how diversified in form and 

 use such ornaments may be. To show the profusion of ornament 

 worn in some cases, and to illustrate the amount of discomfort 

 which one will willingly endure for the sake of display, we quote 

 a few descriptions : 



Livingstone describes the sister of chief Sebatuane as "wear- 

 ing eighteen solid brass rings as thick as one's finger on each 

 leg ; three of copper under each knee ; nineteen brass rings on 

 the right arm ; eight of brass and copper on the left arm, and a 

 large ivory ring above each elbow. She had a heavy bead sash 

 around her waist and a bead necklace. The weight of rings upon 



Fig. 8. — Head-dress of Bird-of-Paradise Feathers. 

 Islands. 



South Sea 



