IN TIMOk-LAUT, 



309 



they bind it within various coloured bands —narrow above broad 

 — liid one on another, before a mirror formed of water collected 

 in the bottom of a [>rau, or o!i the calm sea-face itself, is moat 

 arausing to see. The men are very fond of having their hair 

 cut quite short, aj* it no doubt relieves them for a time by 

 reducing the population in that region of their bodies. 



One day some of them seeing in our house a pair of scissors, 

 eagerly begged its use ^br this purpose, whereupon one of 

 them at once started as haircutter, and as soon as it was known 

 that such operations were going on a crowd colleeted, and, 

 sitting down in a row, waited for their turn. We tried to 

 get some specimens of their locks, Init when they saw that we 

 d^ired to keep the portions we picked tip, they became quite 

 afraid, and excitedly demanded them back, for fear, as they 

 said, they would die if they remained in our keeping. They 

 gathered up every scrap, and had 

 not a kind wind assisted us, and 

 blown a' few pieces to a little dis- 

 tance out of their sight, which 

 A— and I marked down noting 

 the subject from ivhieh i^at'h had 

 come, we could not have ui»tained 

 a single specimen. In Sumatra 

 I once saw a man most carefully ^'^'^thi-mkn-t *>;^_cu»riLvu the 



bury the scraps after paring hi* 



finger-nails. It seems as if there existed in these countries 

 a superstitious dread of any part of their person being in pos- 

 session of another. One day, when I purchased from a man 

 his father's sknll, something of the same dread appeared; 

 for as soon tis th(3 bargain was completed, the seller took from 

 his luvu (or airi-holder) a piece of areca-nut, and, setting the 

 skull before him, he placed the nut between its teeth, and before 

 handing it over to me he repeated a long and devout invoca- 

 tion. On another occasion, also, when I purchased from an old 

 man a large fish, which he had just taken with great difficulty, 

 he would not hand it over to uie till he had cut off one of the 

 pectoral tins, to return it, with an invocation to the nitay m 

 soul of the fish, lest he should come by hiirm. 



The character of the iiair i.s the same iii bothaexes. Among 

 the women hair is abundant on the head without being 



