LISU TRIBES OF THE BURMA-CHINA FRONTIER 
259 
pen clothes are inclined to give way to cotton cloth and the coat to be shorter and more 
in conformity with the Chinese cut. Even these men, however, will generally wear 
their buttonless gown below their Chinese outer coat, whilst all retain the leggings 
and make a profuse use of cowries, discs of bone, white buttons and seeds for decora- 
tion, chiefly in the form of necklaces, bracelets and bands for their hempen bags and 
dahs. Necklaces and bracelets of plaited straw are common amongst them all. The 
wild Lisu wear a large silver ring ornamented with a cornelian suspended over their 
ears, which are also pierced for gold or silver wires, but the more southerly tribesmen 
wear no ear ornaments. 
The original costume of the Lisu woman appears to have been a short coat and 
skirt of hemp, with leggings, and a fillet across the hair 
Dress of Women. > 
studded with silver or cowrie ornaments, and this is still 
retained in the Upper Salween district. Nearly every community and clan, however, 
appears to have its distinctive woman’s dress ; at Lotsolo (Salween about Lat. 26°-i5 / ) 
Prince Henry found them “ In a dress with parti-coloured sleeves , an armless blue 
waist-coat with miniature white checks and a brown border , and an apron and broad 
sash. Their costume was completed by a turban of, in some cases, a blue and red 
scarf fringed with cowries. Almost all had small coral earrings said to be peculiar to 
these “ Hua ” or “Flowery” Lissous.” The most elaborate dress appears to 
be one used in the Kuyung Kai district and we, therefore, give a detailed descrip- 
tion. 
Head-dress : about 5 ft. long and \\ feet broad ; the central breadth a long piece of 
blue cloth, 5 times as long as each of the ends ; the ends are made of pieces of cloth, 
sewn in strips of maroon, white and deep yellow. The ends are about 2 inches broader 
than the blue cloth, which is fringed with blue where the ends join it. On the outside 
edges of the end pieces and at each junction of the strips are long, double tassels con- 
sisting of clear beads in the upper part, joined by a cowrie to a large tassel of maroon 
wool ; there being seven tassels at each end. Four inches from one end of the blue there 
is a strip of cloth about 3 feet long and id inches broad, covered on one side with 42 
white bone discs, varying in diameter from ij inches near the blue cloth to f- inch at 
the extremity, the cloth diminishing with them. This narrow strip is edged with red 
and yellow thread. To the 4th button are attached quadruple tassels of the same 
colour as the strips, and from the end button are suspended a series of eight tassels, 
consisting of beads and white seeds with fringes of maroon, buff and dark blue wool. 
The head-dress is worn like a puggaree, the blue part being twisted round the head and 
the stripes hanging in a double fold over the back, whilst the narrow, beaded strip is 
looped over to keep it in place, the whole having the appearance of a striped and tas- 
selled hood. 
Costume . — The women wear breeches reaching to the knee, and over these a blue 
coat, which reaches to the waist in front and to below the knees at the back, and to 
which is attached a loose over-jacket in alternate buff and cream squares, whilst a 
strip of cream and buff stripes about a foot deep edges the tail of the coat. The long 
tail has two rows of ornaments, an edging of white seeds and a row of white cowries 
