386 EASTERN ETHIOPIA xxx 



men and women disdain clothes they love to decorate 

 their heads. Ostrich and marabou feathers hold as high 

 a place in the scale of fashion among Ethiopians as 

 among the milliners of Bond Street. 



The Masai wear a head-dress of ostrich feathers when 

 raiding, in order to inspire terror (p. 93). The Karamojo, 

 Suk, and Turkana stick them in their chignons (p 160). 

 The Kavirondos use feathers in the construction of their 

 enormous head-dresses. A British Field Marshal wears a 

 plume in his helmet which helps to emphasise his rank, 

 but these feathers are usually obtained from the tail 

 of a barnyard fowl. 



The long hairs of a girafte's tail are used as threads for 

 sewing, or for stringing beads. European sportsmen 

 who shoot elephants, collect the horn-like hairs from the 

 tails for their female relatives and friends to fashion 

 into bracelets. British surgeons often use hairs from 

 a horse's tail for suturing wounds. The Masai employ 

 the tuft of a gnu's tail as a fly-flap, and it is extremely 

 useful in a land abounding in flies and gnats. 



