38 THE LIU-KtU ISLANDS. [chap. 



and twisted or plaited into a knot over the bald spot, which, how- 

 ever, it only partially conceals. It is apparently dressed with some 

 cosmetic after the custom of the Japanese, and is then transiixed 

 by two hair-pins — the Inmasashi and iisisasM. The former is about 

 four inches long, with a depression in the centre of the pin to 

 prevent its falling out, and with the head expanded into the repre- 

 sentation of a lotus flower. The other is two or three inches longer, 

 and in shape exactly reseml^les a marrow spoon. At ten years of 



Liu-Kiu HAIR-PINS {KamasasM and woman's Usisashi). 



age the boys are permitted to assume the iisisashi, but the knmasashi 

 is not worn until the age of puberty. The metal of which they 

 are composed varies with the rank of the wearer. The lower 

 classes have them of brass or pewter, and the literati and higher 

 officials either of silver or gold, according to their position. No 

 one, we were informed, would be permitted to wear the pin of a 

 rank to which he did not belong. The women dress their hair 

 much in the same way, but the top knot is rather larger, and is 

 placed slightly to the right side. They use wooden or horn pins, 

 one of which resembles the vsisashi, but is much larger. It is 

 hexagonal, and is in many cases constructed of alternate pieces of 

 black and transparent horn, neatly joined by glue. The bowl at 

 the end is as large as that of a salt-spoon, and must, one would 

 imagine, be intended for some special use, though what it was I 

 was unable to discover. 



In most countries in which tattooing is practised the men are 

 generally far more decorated than the women, but in the Liu-kius 



