CLOTHING AND ORNAMENT. 



99 





and the r geknùpfte", which PARKINSON [1900, 27, PL XVIII, fig. 5 and 6] mentions, are the 

 same objects cannot be positively stated without further détails. 



On Lake Sentâni I was struck with the use of round rings of unsplit rattan, such as 

 De CLERCQ and SCHMELTZ [1893, 37, N°. 188, PI. IX, fig. 10] mention from Tarfia, sometimes 

 to the number of eight on the left wrist and lower arm, to which custom, I fancy, I must 

 ascribe the same purpose. Such rings (N°. 453), used on botli amis, in several adjacent 

 districts (N°. 454 and N°. 455), are wide enough to be pushed over the elbow (see figs. 65 

 and 66; PI. XXXIX, fig. 1 ; PI. XLV, fig. 2). Thus a young man from Asé wore the set 

 N°. 456 (PI. XVI, fig. 6), regularly entwined with strips of rattan, and'N . 457 (PI. XVI, fig. 9) 

 not composed of rattan, but of liana's, was worn in 

 the same manner. 



Another spécimen of armlets with a spécial meaning, 

 is the tsaue (Finsch [1888a, PI. XVII, fig. 4]), which 

 Hagen [1899, 170, PL 18 and 19] describes ofthe Bogadjim 

 people, and which is placed by the father on his boys after 

 circumcision, stamping the boy as a man, instantly giving 

 him the right to retain any valuables he may procure. It 

 is reported of Adi on the south west coast (Van der 

 Goes [1858, 112]), that in the case of young men, an armlet 

 of fine rattan is placed round the upper arm, which remains 

 there as long as arm or band can bear it; at Kaimani on 

 the same coast [1. c. 118], shell rings, which are placed 

 on the boys at an early âge, cannot be afterwards removed 

 over the hand. At Mapâr amongst the tribe of the Mani- 

 kion, I saw how ail boys without exception wore a strong, 

 tight fitting, plaited armlet, 3 cm. broad, made of yellow 

 and black material (mycélium ?) which they called ira, but 

 of which the more definite meaning I could not ascertain. 

 The armlets also of the so-called black coral (P lexaura), 

 the akar bahar of the Malay, which are worn by the 

 inhabitants of Geelvink Bay should still be mentioned, 

 (De Clercq and Schmeltz [1893, 38, N°. 198, PL IX, 

 fig. 9]), because they are a protection against accidents at 

 sea and particularly against drowning. At Waba in Jôtëfa 



Bay the armlet with two boar's tusks could not be bought, because, as we were told, thèse armlets are 

 put on by the men on their wedding day and may ne ver be removed. Nothwithstanding this De Clercq ') 

 managed to secure such an armlet in H. B., which was known by the name of baja. Such rings, several 

 even tied together (the Leyden Muséum contains, as Ser. 941, N°. 3, a spécimen composed of eleven 

 rings), are well known in connection with the Tugeri (Haddon [1895, PL XV] ;■ Schmeltz [1903, 213]), 

 who also fasten on the upper arm the scrotum of shot boars (Schmeltz [1903, PL XII, fig. 13]). This 

 probably represents a trophy of the hunt, as on Lake Sentâni, where the lucky hunter had fastened 

 the tail of the booty on to the upper arm by means of two small strips of the skin. Of another kind 



' : ^r^ih% 



Fig. 66. Wearing of armrmgs with Sëkânto. 



1) De Clercq and Schmeltz [1893, 38, N°. 195, PI. VI, fig. 4J. 



