IN TIMOR-LAUT. 309 



they bind it within various coloured bunds —narrow above br:>a«l 

 — laid one on another, before a mirror formed of water collected 

 in the bottom of a prau, or on tlio calm sea-fa^^e itself, is mnst 

 amusing to see. The men are very fond of having their liair 

 cut quite short, as it no doubt relievos them for a time by 

 reducing the population in that region of their bodies. 



One day some of them seeing in our house a pair of scissors, 

 eagerly begged its use for this purpDse, whereupon one of 

 them at once started as haircutter, and as soon as it was known 

 that such operations were going on a crowd collected, and, 

 sitting down in a row, waited for their f urn. We tried to 



get some specimens of their locks, but when they saw that wc 

 desired to keep the portions we picked uji, they became quite 

 afraid, and excitedly demanded them back, for fear, as they 

 said, they would die if they remained in our keeping. They 

 gathered up every scrap, and had 

 not a kind wind assisted us, and 

 blown a few pieces to a little dis- 

 tance out of their sight, which 



A and I marked down noting 



the subject from which each had 

 come, we could not have obtained 

 a single specimen. In Sumatra 



T ^^ ^r^c4- ^r.i.r.Ai1Kr IXSTP.OIENT FOR CRniriNG THE 



I once saw a man most careiuliy ^^^^^^ 



bury the scraps after paring his 



finger-nails. It seems as if tliere existed in these cuiintries 



a superstitious dread of any part of their person being in pos- 



session of another. 



sed 



his father's skull, something of the same dread appeared; 



as soon as the bargain was 



his luvib (or siri-hokler) a piece of arcca-nut, and, setting tho 

 ■ skull before him, he placed the nut between its teeth, and }>ofore 

 handing it over to me he repeated a long and devout invoca- 

 tion. On another occaslun, also, when I purchased from an old 

 man a large fish, which he had just taken witli great difficulty, 

 he would not hand it over to me till he had cut off one of the 

 pectoral fins, to return it, with an invocation to the nitu, or 

 soul. of the fish, lest he should come by harm. 



The character of the hair is the same in both sexes. Among 

 the women hair is abundant on the head without being 



