IN TIMOR-LAUT. 



317 



mh 



child, it would seem, is invariably laid in exactly the same posi- 

 tion in the cradle, either on its back or on one side according 

 to the place of its suspension in the house, with the result that 

 the hinder part of its head becomes quite flattened. In some 

 living infants the deformity was very prominent, and that it 

 remains permanent is evidenced by one of 

 the crania of a full-grown man which I 

 brought home ; but no sort of binding is 

 applied to the head in any stage of their 

 youth, as among many tribes, to induce an 

 abnormal and admired shape of head. 



The artistic ability of the Timor-laut 

 people is unquestionably very high. , They 

 are very deft-fingered and clever carvers 

 of wood and ivory. The " figure-heads " 

 of their outrigger praus, dug out of single 

 trees, especially attract attention by the 

 excellence of the workmanship, carefully 

 and patiently executed, and the elegance 

 of their furnishings ; while the whole 

 length of the central pillars of their 

 houses are also most elaborately carved 

 with intricate patterns and representa- 

 tions of crocodiles and other animals. 

 Their appreciation of beauty is a charac- 

 teristic of them, which, absolutely wanting 

 in the Malay people, I was surprised to 

 find among a less advanced race. While 

 walking through the forest they invariably 

 pluck and tastefully arrange in a hole in 

 their comb which is there for the very 

 purpose, any particularly bright bunch of 

 flowers they see. 



Their houses, though little more than 

 floor and roof, are very neat structures, elevated four or 

 five feet above the ground, and entered by a stair through 

 a trap-door cut in the floor, which is shut down and slotted 

 at night. In front of the door is a seat of honour — dodolcan 



ORNAMENTED CHALK- 

 HOLDEU. 



-with ornamented supports and a high carved back, on the 

 top of which is placed an image — Duadilah — with, at its 

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