IN BORNEAN FORESTS 



[chap. II 



and can be a substitute for trousers, petticoats, shirt, and waist- 

 cloth, or even serves as a sheet or a bathing costume. Its use is 

 widely spread in Southern Asia and all over the Malay Archipelago 

 (Fig. 7). For women, the sarong is an essential article of dress ; they 

 usually wear it as a skirt or petticoat, held by a belt round the 

 waist. Besides the sarong, the wealthy ladies of Kuching wear 

 a sort of chemise of cambric or of coloured silk, whilst on their 

 head an embroidered scarf surrounds the face, recalling the head- 

 dress of certain nuns, and falls down the back. It would take too 

 long to give a minute description of the variations and details 



Fig. 7. — woman wearing Sarong. 

 (From the Boro Budor Sculptures.) 



of the toilette of the Sarawak ladies, who also much affect both 

 gold and silver jewellery, which they love to display on every 

 occasion. 



The women of Kuching have beautiful black hair, and their 

 complexion is much lighter than that of the men, but the nose 

 is somewhat more flattened. There is, however, a certain vari- 

 ability in the type, a fact which can easily be explained by what 

 I have previously stated regarding the piratical habits formerly 

 practised by the natives of Kuching. 



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