300 ANTHROPOLOGY 



to this undesirable appearance, and, added to such 

 unnecessary embelhshments as hp-rings sometimes 

 of immense diameter, and nose-rings which twist 

 that organ out of all shape, complete a whole which 

 would have few attractions for the passing traveller. 

 Some of the younger women are, nevertheless, 

 extremely well proportioned. They are broad of 

 hip, with singularly fine posterior development, 

 whilst the rounded, shapely breasts stand boldly 

 out from the thorax by reason of the upright, 

 graceful carriage imparted by the weight of the 

 heavy loads they balance upon the head. 



A very considerable amount of tattooing is 

 common to both sexes, but the women practise 

 this custom to a much greater extent than the 

 men. Whether the various systems observed pos- 

 sess any special significance or not I have not been 

 able to discover. So far my inquiries on this point 

 have always elicited a negative reply ; but it is, of 

 course, impossible to say whether I was wilfully 

 deceived or not. The cicatrised hnes are obtained 

 by making incisions with a sharp-pointed instru- 

 ment, and rubbing in the astringent juice of some 

 tree or shrub. The marks thus produced stand up 

 somewhat above the surface, and appear to be 

 slightly darker in colour. In the case of the women, 

 tattooing is commenced at an early age — at four or 

 five years, I was told — and is continued until long 

 after they have borne children, a circumstance which 

 strengthens my suspicions of their possessing some 

 hidden purport. The whole of the upper part of 

 the body above and below the mammce is thus 

 symmetrically hned, the cicatrisation descending 



