2 THE LIVING RACES OF MANKIND 



protects his enormous mop of hair by a kind of turban, made of very delicate bark-cloth 

 (masi), nearly as thin as gauze. This bark-cloth is also used for dress, being wrapped round 

 the body so as to form a loin-cloth, and to fall behind in a kind of sash and in front like 

 an apron. The women wear a broad band of beautifully variegated braid work, also made of 

 bark-fibre. This garment, known as the liku, is fastened round the waist with a fringe 

 hanging from the lower edge at least three inches. Young girls wear very narrow fringe, 

 and at the time of marriage this is increased in depth until it reaches half-way down to 

 the knees, and it entirely surrounds the body. On becoming a mother, the woman wears an 

 apron reaching down to the knees, or rather lower. Formerly paint was largely used for 

 decorating the person, the favourite colours being black, white, and red. Some of the dandies 

 favoured very piquant devices. They are all fond of wearing flowers, weaving them into 



Photo by Henry King] 



A GRASS HOUSE, FIJI. 



[George Street, Sydney. 



strings, and passing them like belts over the shoulder and under the arm; also as chaplets 

 for the head. Tattooing was until recently practised, but almost exclusively by the women, 

 whose fringe, or apron, hid most of it, except when the fingers or the corners of the mouth 

 were tattooed. In the matter of ornaments the Fijians are not very lavish, and do not load 

 themselves as some of the Papuan tribes do. The frontispiece shows a man wearing a 

 necklet of the curved teeth of the cachalot, or sperm whale, more or less cut into a square 

 shape at the base, and probably derived from young whales. In other cases, however, bits 

 of tortoise-shell, dogs' teeth, or the jaws of the bat are used. A large breast-ornament of 

 pearl-shell is sometimes worn. The ear-ornaments are often of great size, so that it is necessary 

 to stretch the lobe of the ear round the ornament, as in the case of the Solomon Islanders. 

 The ornament itself may be a white cowry, a cylinder, disk, or large ring some of the 

 rings being as much as ten inches in diameter. The natives often used to mark their bodies 



