THE HAIR 119 



faces ; three would possess a small growth cf hair on the chin and 

 upper lip ; the ninth would possess a beard, a moustache, and 

 whiskers of moderate growth ; whilst the tenth would present a 

 shaggy beard, and a hairy visage. With the majority of the Solo- 

 mon Islanders, the surfaces of the body and limbs are comparatively 

 free from hair ; but hairy men are to be found in most villages, and 

 in rare and exceptional cases, the hairy-bodied, hairy-visaged men 

 are the rule. It would appear that in this group, the qualities of 

 treachery and ferocity are possessed in a greater degree by those 

 communities in which hairy men prevail. Hairy-visaged men are 

 commonly found amongst the natives of the Florida Islands. In 

 Bougainville Straits, the great majority of the men keep their faces 

 and chins free from hair, which the chiefs and the (>lder men usually 

 permit to grow. 



With age the hair generally assumes an iron-grey hue, as if the 

 decoloration was incomplete. In one old man, however, who was 

 the patriarch of Treasury Island, the hair was completely grey. 

 Baldness usually commences over the fore-head ; and is not uncom- 

 inonl}^ observed beginning amongst middle-aged men. The old 

 women apparently regard hair as an unnecessary encumbrance, the 

 little that remains in later life being generally removed. 



I have not yet referred to an almost straight-haired element 

 which has been infused amonfjst the inhabitants of Bougainville 

 Straits. The individuals, thus characterised, have ver}' dark skins, 

 the hair being even darker, and corresponding in hue with the 

 colour-types 34- and 49. With such natives the face is flatter, and 

 the nose is more ecrase than usual. Tb.e hair mav be almost 

 straight : and, if not very long, it is often erect, giving the person 

 a shock-headed appearance ; whilst in some cases it tends to gather 

 into curls of a large spiral. Other natives possess hair which com- 

 bines the straight and frizzly characters, giving the whole mass, 

 when combed out, an appearance partly wavy and partly bush}^ 

 Small boys in this part of the group have frequently curly heads 

 of hair with large flattened spirals. Traders tell me that straight- 

 haired individuals are found amongst the hill-ti-ibes of St. Christoval 

 at the opposite end of the group. I have seen two such natives, one 

 a woman, and the other a man whom I met near Cape Keibeck on 

 the north coast of the island. 



A few remarks with reference to the prevailing hues of the 

 skin may be here interesting. It would seem to be a general rule 



