I2 4 



EASTERN ETHIOPIA 



like cord of tissue capable of surrounding a cylin- 

 drical jar, or a disc of wood, with a diameter of 

 three or four inches, that these deformed ears arc 

 regarded by their owners with pride and their 

 neighbours with envy. This is the case. To break- 

 one of these rings of tissue is a great offence. In 

 all countries, civilised and uncivilised, rival beauties 



The Ear of a Kikuyu man with a ring in the lobe 

 and reeds in the helix. 



are liable to quarrel and even fight desperately ; in 

 such encounters each combatant endeavours to ruin the 

 beauty of her rival. Scratching furrows in the cheeks 

 is a common form of revenge. Shakespeare, in his 

 description of the scene in which Margaret, Queen to 

 Henry VI., boxes the ears of Eleanor Cobham, Duchess 

 of Gloucester, makes the angry duchess shriek : 



