CLOTHING AND ORNAMENT. 57 



women however who, as will appear hereafter often used red clay, although in a différent 

 way, I hâve not discovered any baldness. This much is certain that red clay sticks to ail 

 the head and neck ornaments which I collected from Lake Sentâni, Humboldt Bay and 

 adjoining coasts, including Oinâke; of Attack Harbour FlNSCH [1888, 340] already menti- 

 oned the red clay. 



It is well known that hère in the case of the children of both sexes, the hair is shaved, 

 with the exception of a strip of the breadth of two to five fingers, which runs in the middle 

 from the front to the back (fig. 1, 28, 101, 124) and is often compared with a cock's comb. With 

 the girls this is no longer found to be the case after the 5A or 6 th year of their life, whilst 

 the boys in H. B. are once more entirely shaved on entering the temple, after which they 

 are allowed to wear ail the hair at an equal length. Fig. 30 and 31 show how after this the 

 true mop gradually develops itself. I cannot conceive what is hidden behind this custom, but 

 for the sake of a connection possibly to be discovered later on, I refer to Haddon's commu- 

 nication [1894, 109] that the boys of 14 — 15 years of the Papuan Gulf District are clean 

 shaved in September and are then locked up in the Elamas for 8 — 9 months, until the hair 

 has again reached a certain length. 



On Lake Sentâni thèse matters are arranged differently ; hère boys of small âge are 

 met with in the men's watch-houses (thèse are not proper temples) still provided with the 

 cock's comb. Besides in the districts mentioned, I saw the cock's comb worn by boys in the 

 district of Sekâ, which lies to the east and in the villages of Nâcheibe and Sàgeisârâ, which 

 are situated to the west of H. B. In the adjacent German territory it has been noticed as 

 far as Lektre, the Massilia of FlNSCH [1888, 333], whilst in New Mecklenburg (New Ireland) 

 it is even worn by adults (FlNSCH [1888 — 93, 46]). The maie inhabitants of Humboldt Bay 

 therefore wear during life no other hairdress than that of the cock's comb and the full mop. 



Entirely clean shaven heads, as sometimes seen more to the west, are therefore never 

 noticed hère and ail other hairdresses mentioned by scientific travellers from hère must hâve 

 necessarily belonged to occasional visitors, who, according to my expérience, are hardly ever 

 wanting in this bay (see Chapter VI). 



The décoration of the hindmost hairs of the cock's comb, mentioned by DE CLERCQ 

 and SCHMELTZ [1893, n] of H. B., the wearing of a plait made of thèse hairs and rolled round 

 the head (Van DER Goes [1858, 169], CHALLENGER [1876, 323]), ail this can only hâve been 

 observed in the case of strangers. The remark by the last writer that the hair is generally 

 whitened with lime or coloured red with a mixture of lime and ochre is entirely wrong. Fig. 

 28 shows an assortment of hairdresses (men standing) taken of casual visitors of H. B. 



The women wear the hair fairly short (De CLERCQ and SCHMELTZ [1893, 11]) (in this 

 case they don't shave it as often as in Tarfia and Tanah Merah), but very often also in thin 

 red coloured tresses, as FlNSCH [1888, 362] also saw more to the east. Van DER GOES 

 [1858, 172] and BlNK [1897, 162] thought that thèse tresses were twisted ; according to the 

 latter they were characteristic of married women. 



Neither is correct, as each tress simply consists of a natural tuft or ringlet, entirely saturated 

 with red clay, and I myself saw how even in the case of girls about 5 years old, who still 

 wore the cock's comb, ail the hair of this comb was formed into similar tresses. Fig. 10, PI. 

 VII, shows such a tress separately, heavy with clay. On account of this weight they also hang 



Nova Guinea. III. Ethnography. S 



