138 COMBS. 



Western Pacific. The combs of different islands may vary some- 

 what in details, but they belong all to this pattern, being usually 

 made of a hard dark wood, the teeth consisting of separate pieces 

 either bound tightly or glued together by a kind of resin. The 

 handles and upper parts are often prettily decorated with the plaited 

 " dyed grass," so-called {vide, page 132). An excellent coloured 

 illustration of an Admiralty Island comb is to be found in the official 

 narrative of the cruise of the " Challenger." In the islands of Bou- 

 gainville Straits, the native often carries in his hair an instrument 

 three prongs rudely fashioned out of bamboo, as shown in one of 

 the figures. It is used as much for scratching the head as for 

 combing the hair. 



Head-coverings are rarely to be found in tliis group, except in 

 Bougainville and Bouka. A native of Treasury showed me a singu- 

 lar conical hat which he had brought from Bouka. It really was a 

 double hat, one inside the other, the inner hat being made of the 

 leaf of the " kiari," a species of Heliconia, and the outer of the fan- 

 shaped leaf of the " firo," a palm of the genus Licuala. A band of 

 the so-called plaited " dyed grass " encircles the base and keeps the 

 hat on the head. A similarly shaped hat but smaller and shorter, 

 and made of the leaf of the " kiari," was worn by some Bougainville 

 natives from the village of Takura, whom I met in Fauro Island. 

 It was placed towards the back of the head ; and as it covered 

 only a small portion of the crown, it was evidently more ornamen- 

 tal than useful. In addition, these natives wore a little bunch of 

 feathers on each tem])le. Their appearance in this grotesque liead- 

 dress was rather ludicrous. 



It is a remarkable circumstance that although the Solomon 

 Islanders, as a rule, wear no protective covering for the head, the 

 carved figures of their tambu-posts are usually represented with 

 very European-looking hats. These carved tambu-posts have vari- 

 ous uses (vide, page 32). In a similar manner in Bougainville 

 Straits, the hat is to be noticed in the case of the little wooden 

 figures which are fastened on the stems of canoes as protective 



deities Where these islanders first obtained their 



idea of a hat of this shape is a matter for speculation. It may have 

 been originally suggested by the hats of the Spanish soldiers three 

 centuries ago, who by means of their musketry seldom failed to make 

 a lasting impression of their visit during the six months spent by 

 the expedition in the group. 



