Ethuograpliy of MicroncsLt. 2& 



II. Adoenment avith Objects attached to the Body. 



The custom of adorning the body by partial mutilation and 

 attaching objects to the mutilated parts is universal among uncivil- 

 ized races. There are not a few forms of this kind of adornment, 

 which is perhaps the most cruel of all personal embelhshments. 

 The practice also occurs among the natives of tiie East Caroline 

 Islands, though they have only two kinds, namely, ear and nose- 

 ornament. 



1. Ear Ornaments. — These are worn on various parts of tlio 

 auricle, but most frequently on the lobe. Of the natives on 

 different islands, the Truk islanders have the most complex car- 

 ornaments. The procedure is as follows : 



Natives of cither sex have a hole made in the lobe while 

 quite young. They enlarge the hole by the insertion of leaves of 

 the mangrove or callophyllum tree and increase the number insert- 

 ed as the tension of the leaves widens tlie hole, u;itil it gets 

 sufficiently large. This method of making holes closely resembles 

 the one prevailing among the Bagobo tribe of Davao District, 

 Mindanao.! In Truk, there is, of course, no uniformity in the size 

 of holes. One of the men whom I examined had on the right and 

 left ears holes measuring 130 mm. and 121 mm. in long diameter, 

 and this when no ornament was worn in the ears. This is shown- 

 in PI. I, fig. 1. Sometimes the hole in the lobe extends as far as 

 the front of the helix. It is usual that various ornaments are 

 worn in the hole. However, when the natives work, they find 

 their ornaments hanging from the hole very troublesome to them, 

 so they remove the articles, even hanging the distended lobe on 



1 Fay-Cojper Cole, "The Wild Tribes of Davao District, Mindanao," Fit-Id Miisenm of 

 Natural History, Pablici.tion 170, Chicago, 1913, p. 59. 



