MEKE-MEKES. 109 



hours in preparation. It is first saturated with oil, and then 

 blackened with the charred kernels of the candle-nut or 

 laud. The more the barber succeeds in distending the hair, 

 the greater the dignity he attains, while the happy possessor 

 of a well-frizzed and fancifully extended head of hair is looked 

 upon with envy and admiration. A chief's hair is enveloped 

 in a sort of turban reserved solely for men of his rank, and in 

 former times a commoner who wore this head-dress would 

 have been put to death in a very summary manner. 



The hair of boys is usually cropped close, but on attaining 

 the dignity of manhood, they can indulge their fancy to an 

 extent only limited by the hair they possess. 



In addition to the fanciful shapes which the hair is made to 

 assume, colour in streaks or patches is freely added. 



The women, especially when young and unmarried, wear 

 their hair long, in its natural state, and on gay and festive 

 occasions decorate it with flowers. After marriage such adorn- 

 ment is considered unnecessary or imprudent, and a short crop 

 or ' frizz ' takes the place of flowing locks. Those women who 

 may be verging on baldness have recourse to 'wigs, 'in the 

 making of which the native barbers have attained an amount 

 of skill which would rival that of the young men at Truefitt's. 

 Occasionally women have their hair dressed in the same style 

 as men, though not to the same extent in size. Certainly the 

 coiffure of a chief was fearfully and wonderfully made. Mr. 

 Williams states that he has measured some that were 3 feet 

 10 inches in circumference, and one masterpiece measured 5 

 feet. A coating of jet black powder is thrown over all, inter- 

 spersed with stripes or patches of vermilion. Chiefs and 

 priests used occasionally to wear a frontlet of small scarlet 

 feathers fixed on a palm-leaf, with a long black comb or 

 tortoise-shell ' scratcher ' projecting from behind the ear. 



