324 FASHION IN DEFORMITY xx 



is inserted, usually oval or elliptical in shape, concave on the 

 sides, and grooved like the wheel of a pulley on the edge in 

 order to keep it in place. The dimensions of the block are 

 from two to six inches in length, from one to four inches in 

 width, and about half an inch thick round the edge, and it is 

 highly polished. Old age has little terror in the eyes of a 

 Thlinkeet belle ; for larger lip-blocks are introduced as years 

 advance, and each enlargement adds to the lady's social status, 

 if not to her facial charms. When the block is withdrawn, 

 the lip drops down upon the chin like a piece of leather, 

 displaying the teeth, and presenting altogether a ghastly 

 spectacle. The privilege of wearing this ornament is not 

 extended to female slaves." 



In this method of adornment the North Americans are, 

 however, rivalled, if not eclipsed, by the negroes of the heart 

 of Africa. 



" The Bongo women (says Schweinfurth *) delight in dis- 

 tinguishing themselves by an adornment which to our notion 

 is nothing less than a hideous mutilation. As soon as a 

 woman is married, the operation commences of extending her 

 lower lip. This, at first only slightly bored, is widened by 

 inserting into the orifice plugs of wood, gradually increasing 

 in size, until at length the entire feature is enlarged to five 

 or six times its original proportions. The plugs are cylindrical 

 in form, not less than an inch thick, and are exactly like the 

 pegs of bone or wood worn by the women of Musgoo. By 

 this means the lower lip is extended horizontally till it pro- 

 jects far beyond the upper, which is also bored and fitted 

 with a copper plate or nail, and now and then by a little 

 ring, and sometimes by a bit of straw, about as thick as a 

 lucifer-match. Nor do they leave the nose intact; similar 

 bits of straw are inserted into the edges of the nostrils, and I 

 have seen as many as three of these on each side. A very 

 favourite ornament for the cartilage between the nostrils is a 

 copper ring, just like those that are placed in the noses of 

 buffaloes and other beasts of burden for the purpose of 

 rendering them more tractable. The greatest coquettes 

 among the ladies wear a clasp, or clamp, at the corners of the 



1 Heart of Africa, vol. i. p. 297. 



