Ethnography of ilicronesm. 2^Q7 



II. Adornment with Objects attached to the Body. 



In the West Caroline Islands, as in the East Caroline group, 

 the adornment of the body by partial mutilation and with objects 

 attached consists of two kinds, namely the ear and nose ornaments. 



1. Ear Ornaments. — The natives of Yap and Palau wear ear- 

 ornaments, though in these islands we find no such large holes bored 

 in their ear-lobes as are often met with among the Truk Islanders» 

 In Yap the natives of both sexes have small holes pierced in their 

 ear-lobes w^hile quite young. In these holes the men wear strings 

 of beads, to w^hich pendants made of sea-shell or tortoise-shell 

 are attached. The pendants consisting of pink-coloured shells, and 

 triangular in shape, are the most highly valued. Only well-to-do 

 natives, it is said, can purchase them on account of the price, for 

 shells of that colour are rarely found in Yap. We failed to bring 

 back a few of these ornaments with us ; however, the late Dr. U. 

 Taguchi and others collected such specimens during their voyage 

 to the South Seas in 1890, these are now preserved in the Anth- 

 ropological Institute of the Imperial University of Tokyo. The 

 women in Yap are fond of inserting flowers or leaves in the holes 

 bored in their ear-lobes, a custom affected by some of the males 

 too. The natives of Palau also wear flowers or leaves as ear- 

 ornaments ; but so far as my observation goes, none of the in- 

 habitants of the islands wear large shell-rings. 



The custom of wearing flowers in the ears prevails also in 

 New^ Guinea, where the Motu tribe are said to insert fragrant or 

 glossy leaves in the holes pierced in their ears.^ 



According to Captain Wilson, women of good position in Palau 

 used as ear-ornaments pieces of tortoise-shell, some 13 cm. long 



1 W. Y. Tiimer, " The Ethnology of the Motu," Jour. Anthr. Inst., VII, 1878, p. 478. 



