XIII ETHIOPIAN FASHIONS IN HAIR-DRESSING 157 



Among the Nancli the mode of treating the hair is 

 full of meanino-. The women and children have their 



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heads regularly shaved, but in some instances a patch 

 of short hair is left on the crown. 



The warriors let their hair grow long and plait the 

 front locks into tags, which are allowed to hang over 

 the forehead, like the Masai. Occasionally it is plaited 

 into one big pig-tail behind. 

 The Nandi also shave their 

 eyebrows, and hair on the 

 remainder of the l)ody is 

 plucked out. 



They shave their heads as 

 a sign of grief, and throw the 

 hair after removal in special 

 directions, or carefully hide it. 

 Many of these silly customs 

 remind us of the superstitions 

 held in many English villages 

 concerning the disposal of 

 teeth after extraction. 



Among the Nandi there are 



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special rules concerning the 

 treatment of hair, such as 

 shaving as a sign of mourn- 

 ing, and of defeat in war. 

 It is also of significance in 

 circumcision, and in relation 

 to marriage and child-birth. 

 Many of these matters have 

 been elucidated with much care by Hollis in his useful 

 and valuable work on the language and folk-lore of the 

 Nandi (1909). 



Some of the tribes, neighbours to the Kavirondos, 

 dress their hair in the extraordinary style of the Suk 

 and Turkana. The specimen I have been able to 

 examine, thanks to the kindness of Major Powell- 

 Cotton, belonged to a Karamojo. The hair is trained 



A man of Kikuj-u wearing a cap 

 made out of a goat's paunch, 

 to protect him from rain. 



