304 PROCEEDINGS OF THE COTTESWOLD CLUB 



fancy, I l)elieve, dictates further shaving, as for instance an 

 alley-wa}' down the centre of the scalp, while some cut it 

 very short over the ears, &c. Wool or hair anywhere 

 else on the body is rare, and not profuse. When some 

 of these men were taken to the Calcutta Exhibition, their 

 peculiar wool caused an excitement, and, as I was credibly 

 informed, one man made about 20. rupees out of his 

 head by selling the locks or tufts at Rl per lock ! 



Their distinctive manners and customs are few, and so 

 are their manufactures ; they depend on their bows and 

 arrows for their main supplies of food, and the bow is 

 very remarkable in shape, having a double curve, the one 

 half of the bow bending from the string, the other toward 

 the string. After a suitable piece of white wood has been 

 chosen, the whole is fashioned by a sharp shell, or if 

 possible by a bit of iron, then smoothed, and finally 

 darkened in the smoke of a fire ; the arrows are unfeathered, 

 and have a point made of any piece of iron that can be 

 found, such as an old nail, and I did see a bit of one of 

 Fox's Paragon Frames acting in this capacity. The arrow 

 used for pig shooting is, however, armed with a spear- 

 shaped head, manufactured (I dare say) by hammering into 

 shape a piece of a biscuit tin. This head is mounted on 

 a short shaft, which in its turn is inserted loosely into a 

 socket in a longer shaft, and the two are kept from separat- 

 ing by a short length of twisted fibre. The object of this 

 arrangement is that when the pig is struck and runs away 

 in the jungle, the head shall not be torn out of the wound, 

 for the long shaft separating from the head hangs loose, 

 being held to the head by the retaining strand. Nets 

 are also made, and coarse pottery ; twine or Betmo from 

 fibre is laboriously prepared by the women, to provide 

 fines and string generally. To make their canoes they 

 employ an adze exactly similar to that which was used in 

 pre-historic times, and the process of manufacture of such 

 an adze has been carefully photographed in all stages by 

 Mr Portman. 



