THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 



119 



Headmatt on pig-killing altar, Dip Point, 



Ambrym, New Hebrides; he is wearing two 



pig's tusks as breast ornaments. 



Photo. — A. K.. McCuIloch. 



other thing's associated with ceremonial 

 rites which appeal to his nebulous mind 

 as of greater or less distinction. 



Thus chieftainship is not heredi- 

 tary in Espiritu Santo as in the 



Wooden pig-kilUng implement, 'ndete; Malekula, 

 New Hebrides. The pig is despatched by a blow 

 on the forehead with the mallet head. 



Plioto. — A. Musgrave. 



south of the New Hebrides group, 

 but if a man kills eleven pigs 

 with circular tnsks, he becomes a high 

 chief, and takes his rank accordingly 

 into the next world. Moi-eover, it is 

 customary to kill pigs in honour of the 

 dead, either to raise the rank of the de- 

 ceased or to commemorate his recent 

 death. In Malekula, New Hebrides, a 

 special instniment called ndete is used 

 in this ceremonial killing. A tusker is 

 dragged forward and dispatched by a 

 blow on the forehead with the blunt end 

 of the instrument. 



Toilet Articles from Ancient Egypt. 



By William W. Thorpe. 



In Egypt, the custom of discolouring 

 the eyelids and brows dates back to the 

 very earliest times. A moistened pow- 

 der composed of either antimony, mala- 

 chite, preparations of lead, or man- 

 ganese oxide, was used. Some Egyp- 

 tians preferred the charcoal derived 

 fiom burnt almonds, Init each medium 

 had for its objects the emphasising of the 

 eyes, and the production of a supposed 

 stimulus that the darkened or tinted 

 area added to these organs. The mois- 

 tened substance was applied with a reed 

 or pin before a polished copper han(»- 

 mirror, or ]5ainted on by another per- 

 son. The general term for these eye- 

 paints wa.s l-ohl, and various vessels 

 were used to hold them. 



A series of four receptacles are here- 

 ■with pictured, made of alabaster, a 



translucent mineral composed of sul- 

 phate of lime. These were used for 

 holding l-ohJ and other cosmetics; thret 

 are from the period of the First Dynasty, 

 and according to the accepted ancient 

 chronology were in use about 5,000 B.C. 

 The fourth and smallest pot, still con- 

 taining powdered lead carbonate and a 

 piece of malachite, dates only to the 

 Twelfth Dynasty, 3,400 B.C. 



It stirs the imagination to reflect that 

 these articles were perhaps the cherished 

 possessions of some Egyptian belle who 

 Iiad her little day some thousands ot 

 years ago, and that they may have con- 

 tained the war print which served to en- 

 thral some gallant of old Nile, "sighing 

 like furnace, with a woeful ballad made 

 to liis mistress' eyebrow." 



All the specimens were found, along 



