CUSTOMS OF THE FEEJEE GROUP. 75 
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FEEJEE GIRL. 
to be of so sacred a nature, that their hands are tabooed from all other 
employment, and they are not even permitted to feed themselves.* 
To dress the head of a chief occupies several hours, and the hair is 
made to spread out from the head, on every side, to a distance that is 
often eight inches. The beard, which is also carefully nursed, often 
reaches the breast, and when a Feejeean has these important parts of 
his person well dressed, he exhibits a degree of conceit that is not a 
little amusing. 
In the process of dressing the hair, it is well anointed with oil, 
mixed with a carbonaceous black, until it is completely saturated. 
The barber then takes the hair-pin, which is a long and slender rod, 
made of tortoise-shell or bone, and proceeds to twitch almost every 
separate hair. This causes it to frizzle and stand erect. The bush of 
hair is then trimmed smooth, by singeing it, until it has the appearance 
of an immense wig. When this has been finished, a piece of tapa, 
so fine as to resemble tissue-paper, is wound in light folds around it, 
to protect the hair from dew or dust. This covering, which has the. 
look of a turban, is called sala, and none but chiefs are allowed to 
wear it; any attempt to assume this head-dress by a kai-si, or common 
* These barbers are called a-vu-ni-ulu. They are attached to the household of the chiefs 
in numbers of from two to a dozen. 
t The oil is procured by scraping and squeezing a nut called maiketu; the black is pre- 
pared from the laudi nut. 
