xin ETHIOPIAN FASHIONS IN HAIR-DRESSING 163 



district (1888) and described the men. They go naked, 

 not from necessity, for they have large herds of cattle 

 and hides, but it is the fashion 

 among them. Some of the 

 Mashukulumbi have their hair, 

 as well as that removed from 

 the heads of their wives, worked 

 into a tall cone two and a half 

 feet high. The base of the cone 

 is fixed to the back of the head, 

 and made to curve forwards so 

 that its apex is straight above 

 the head, and to it a strip from 

 the horn of a sable antelope is 

 fixed. This strip of horn is 

 strong enough to stand upright, 

 yet waves with every movement 

 of the head. A cone of hair and 

 horn sometimes measures five 

 feet in height. In building 

 these cones the hair is made to 

 felt with grease, and as it can- 

 not be washed when once worked 

 up in this way, soon swarms with 

 vermin. A metallic stylet is 

 stuck in the tuft to serve as a 

 scratcher when the vermin are 

 too active. 



Selous shrewdly remarks that 

 men with hair dressed in this 

 way must necessarily live in an 

 open country ; they never could 

 get through bush. I have had 

 an opportunity of examining two 

 of these cones from Mr. Selous's 

 museum. Mr. Long, who re- 

 cently visited the Mashukulumbi, 

 informed me that this odd 



The head of a Mashukulumbi 

 with a fantastic chignon 

 fifty inches high. The 

 cone is formed of hair and 

 the terminal section is a 

 strip of horn from the sable 

 antelope. (From a speci- 

 men kindly lent by Mr. 

 F. C. Selous.) 



M 2 



