112 PYGMIES AND PAPUANS 



in making the people accept, were worn by them as 

 ear-rings. Another man, a constant smoker, in default 

 of a better cigar case always carried a cigar in the lobe 

 of his ear. 



Tattooing, in the proper sense of the term, is un- 

 known to the Mimika Papuans, but a great number of 

 them practise cicatrisation or scarring. The usual 

 places for these markings are the buttocks and the 

 outer side of the upper (usually the left) arm. On the 

 buttocks the marks are almost always the same, a cross, 

 about two inches square, on the left buttock, and a 

 cross surrounded by a circle on the right. The mark 

 on the arm is about four inches long and sometimes 

 represents a snake and sometimes a scorpion or a cray- 

 fish, but the meaning of it, and whether or not it had 

 some totemistic significance we were unable to learn. 

 Some of the women affect a scar between the breasts, 

 which makes a very unsightly contraction, and we 

 occasionally saw people with irregular scars all over 

 the upper part of the breast and back, but it is probable 

 that most of them were the signs rather of former 

 quarrels than due to a spirit of coquetry. 



They are found of painting their faces with a bright 

 red earth, lumps of which they sometimes find and 

 prize very highly, and not infrequently we saw men with 

 their faces smeared black with a mixture of fat and 

 charcoal, or whitened with powdered sago, but the 

 reason, if there were any but vanity, for this adornment 

 we did not discover. 



The average height of men measured at Wakatimi 

 and Parimau is 5 feet 6 inches. No women were 



