DRESS AND ORNAMENTS 199 



a man to part with his case, he would not remove it 

 then and there, but ahvays disappeared into the jungle and 

 returned after an interval decently covered with leaves. 



Their ornaments are few and simple ; a number of 

 men wear arm-bands and leg-bands of plaited fibre 

 similar to those worn by the Papuans, and several of 

 them w^ear necklaces of seeds, short pieces of bamboo, 

 scraps of broken shell, teeth of wallabies and (in one 

 instance) the bones of a small mammal. The lobes of 

 both ears are pierced and a few men wear in one ear an 

 ornament made of a small piece of gourd to which are 

 attached seeds, scraps of fur, claws of birds and other 

 ornamental odds and ends. One young man, with more 

 originality than the rest, thrust through his front hair a 

 piece of sharpened bone, which projected downwards 

 over his face and gave him a most distinguished appear- 

 ance (see Frontispiece). 



The most elaborate and ornamental of their posses- 

 sions are the bags, which every man carries. Most of ^ ^y 

 them carry two, a large bag like a haversack slung 

 across the shoulders and usually hanging down the back, ^Oc--^ 

 and a small bag only a few inches square slung round 

 his neck and hanging down on the chest. They are 

 made of fine fibres of different colours, cleverly netted * 

 in ornamental patterns, and they show the best attempt 

 at decorative art that we saw in the country. In these 

 bags the Pygmy man keeps all his portable property. 

 The small wallet round the neck contains his bone and 



* The stitch used is a " figure of eight." An exactly similar 

 pattern is used by the natives near Humboldt Bay, North Dutch 

 New Guinea, in making caps. See Van der Sande, Nova Guinea, 

 Vol. III. Illustration, p. ^7- 



^ 



