CLOTHING AND ORNAMENT. IOJ 



seeds, which hâve a somewhat thin shell and in which a hardened kernel rattles, are obtained 

 from a not unpalatable fruit, like an apple. It was said that thèse ornaments were worn on 

 the throat, on leglets, but also on the bags. 



Another ornament, sometlmes worn on the comb, at other times in the ear, in 

 this manner also by women, and also worn on the bags, is the bail formed from a stuffed 

 strip of hairy skin of Phalanger (N°. 522 — 523, PL XVII, fig. 16), suspended by a pièce of 

 cord, over which sometimes by way of a handle a hollow pièce of cane, or a hollow quill is 

 passed close to the bail. In this form it also occurs in Berlin Harbour (Erdweg [1902, 319, 

 fig. 213]), but strips of the same skin, shriveled by drying, with one end stuck in the lobe 

 of the ear, forming a ball-shaped impression (N°. 33O and 331), are seen hère and more to 

 the east (FlNSCH [1888, 333]). 



The shell of Ovula ovum (N°. 524), ornamented the bag of a man of Seisârâ on 

 Lake Sentàni and must therefore hâve been obtained by barter from the coast, possibly from 

 Tanah Merah ; in K. W. Land this shell is a favourite for breast shields (FlNSCH 1888 — 93, 

 PI. 9, figs. 1 and 2). 



A shell like a bell with a pig's tooth as a clapper, the whole suspended on the bag, 

 I only met with (N°. 525 — 527, PL XVII, fig. 7) near the Netherl.-German frontier. The shell, 

 generally Conus, hangs below the bag, and in ail cases suspended by a string, which is 

 longer than the one from which the clapper hangs; both clapper and shell swinging not 

 isochronic in walking, the small bell, as also described by ERDWEG [1902, 323], keeps on 

 ringing constantly. What FlNSCH observed in Blanche Bay of the Oliva shells, there used as 

 bells, namely that the small hole for the suspending cord in the top of the shell was not 

 bored but filed out in the shape of a slit, can also be noticed in N°. 526 and 527; with 

 N°. 525 however a superficial slit has first been filed and in the middle of this a conical 

 opening has been bored, the opening on the inside being therefore round. The most probable 

 explanation of this method of working is this, that a pointed bore would slip on the slippery, 

 curved surface of the shell. In the slit however a place of support for the bore is easily found. 

 The apex of the pig's tooth serving as a clapper is sometimes broken off in order to fasten 

 the string in the root canal, or small conical holes are bored in it. 



As a common ornamental material, the white seeds of Coix lacryma are met with 

 everywhere in Papua Talandjang; most common is the oblong kind, but not seldom more 

 bulky ones are seen, almost round ones even. It is not surprising that this plant is culti- 

 vated in the gardens and the seeds are kept in stock; for this purpose sometimes a bamboo 

 cylinder is used (N°. 528), at another time (N°. 529 and 530) they are wrapped up in a leaf, 

 and again twigs with the fruit attached (N°. 531) are met with hanging in the houses, in 

 order to dry. 



Finally the collection contains (N°. 532) two bunches of seeds as used in making the 

 black seed rings; they were found in a dried state inside a dwelling. The nature of thèse 

 small, hard, black rings does not appear to hâve been understood at first, when the seed 

 itself was unknown. Finsch only came across thèse seed rings in the western part of K. W. 

 Land and took them sometimes for seed kernels [1888 — 93, 240], supposing that they were 

 perhaps artificial and then made of Cocoa-nut shell [1. c. 249]. ERDWEG [1902, 320] reports 

 that the people of Tumleo obtain „the small, black fruits" from Sissano, which is situated 30 



