CLOTHING AND ORNAMENT. 



63 



HORST who after his visit in 1886 to Humboldt Bay wrote that men and women had 

 few ornaments, nor adorned themselves with leaves 

 or flowers, has certainly met with an exceptional 

 state of affairs. 



The flowers of Hibiscus rasa sinensis 

 are no less sought after in H. B. and on Lake 

 Sentâni than in eastern parts and seldom anybody 

 will pass a flowering shrub without ornamenting 

 himself with some of the flowers which, with the 

 pointed leaves of the calice, are easily caught in 

 the hair (see PL XXXIII and XXXVII, fig. 1 and 2). 

 Only once I noticed women with flowers in the hair ; 

 this occurred at Asé with two grown-up girls, who 

 in a boat brought fruit from the gardens ; the 

 motive for this ornament however remained un- 

 known to me. 



The strips .of reed (according to SCHMELTZ 

 [1904, 203] strips of leaf of the Nipa palm) which are 

 twisted into the hair in large quantities by men 

 and women of the south west coast (Leyden Muséum, 

 Ser. 941, N°. 81), whereby the whole hangs down 

 like mânes on the shoulders and back (SCHMELTZ 

 [1895, 158]) and according to the opinion ofNetherl. 

 naval ofncers probably intended as a protection 

 against the head hunting, is met with nowhere on 

 the north coast. 



It 



is interesting to notice the use of wigs 



made of human hair, especially because this 



custom is in vogue in coast districts situated at 



such distances from each other, that mutual 



intercourse is excluded. Thus De CLERCQ and 



SCHMELTZ [1893, 11] report wigs of Tarfia and Liki, 



which places together with Kaptiau, where the 



présent expédition noticed the fréquent and daily 



use of wigs by men as well as by women, may be 



counted to belong to the same culture territory. 



On the other hand wigs were seen at Finsch Har- 



bour (FlNSCH [1888, 179]) which showed a striking 



resemblance to the cap-shape, which is, besides 



others, in use at Kaptiau. But caution should be exerted, in judging the wigs of the Papuans 



according to our modem, western notions. In this way the assertion was arrived at, that 



wigs were in Humboldt Bay a dress for old men to hide their baldness (Van DER Chys 



[1885, 190, N°. 3203]). De CLERCQ and SCHMELTZ illustrate four wigs, of which one, tresses 



Fig. 38. Hairdress of ferns; Humboldt Bay. 



