252 HAIRDRESSING 



As we proceeded nearer the coast, we found by the style of 

 hairdressing among the women that we had come into the 

 territory of a different tribe to that amongst whom we had been 

 travelling. Many of the young women had a singular but some- 

 what elegant style of coiffure. It was done thus : the hair was 

 plaited in very fine braids, and then twisted into thin flat 

 circular coils of from two to two and a half inches in diameter ; 

 these were symmetrically arranged, one overlapping the other, 

 in two rows, the upper one completely encircling the head from 

 the forehead to the back of the neck, and the other ending 

 below the ears. These young girls really looked well, for they 

 had the appearance of being well dressed. The women here 

 were more fully clothed than those of the Tanala ; the skirt of 

 fine mat is worn here, but there is more of it, and hemp cloth 

 seems in more common use. 



The country became flatter, undulating, but with no prominent 

 rising grounds. The vegetation also was quite different from 

 what we had become accustomed to during the last four days. 

 There were no more bamboos, hardly any traveller's trees, but 

 large numbers of single trees or small clumps of them. These 

 were chiefly the addbo, a species of Ficus, a tree with massive 

 smooth trunk and light brown bark ; they have a much more 

 rounded and shapely outline than the forest trees, and give the 

 scenery quite an English appearance. But the presence of an 

 occasional fan-palm or cocoanut-palm lifting their tall plumes 

 aloft soon dispelled the illusion. The villages, too, became 

 numerous, and many of them are built five or six together that 

 is, in lines of as many, only a short distance between them. 



We had a curious congregation on the Sunday at one of the 

 two villages where we spoke to the people, of whom a good many 

 collected together. But as heavy showers came on, most of our 

 auditors were standing under the elevated rice-houses (trdno- 

 dmbo), as we also were. Still we were able to speak a few 

 earnest words to them. Almost in the midst of our speaking, 

 the old chief of the village came up to give us a bottle of rum ! 

 and a fowl. The former of these presents, as well as others of the 

 same kind, were, as soon as darkness set in, carried outside, and 

 poured on the ground as the best way of disposing of their 

 contents. We were glad to find that the Taimoro, among whom 

 we had now come, did not, like the Tanala, kill children born on 



