2 
BAIB. 
small tuftsj each of which keeps separate from the rest j 
and the hairsj if allowed to grow, twist round each other, 
and form spiral ringlets. Many of the tribes, more 
especially the mountaineers who hold intercourse with 
more civilized races, from whom they can procure chitting 
instruments, keep the hair closely cropped. The tufts 
then assume the form of little knobs, about the mze of 
large peas^ which give the head a singular but not 
altogether unpleasiiig appearance; for the regularity of 
these little knohs is so great, that the first idea which 
strikes a stranger is that they have been produced by 
means of a stamp ; and the writer has every reason to 
believe that the hair of some tribes is naturally short, 
this knob-like appearance arising without the aupei-fluous 
bair being cropped. Among the coast tribes of New 
Guinea, however, the spiral ringlets sometimes grow to 
the length of a foot, when tbcy are either cut off close 
to the head, and made into wigs, by inserting the ends 
into skull-caps formed of matting } or the ringlets are 
opened out by the hand, and kept spread by the constant 
use of a sort of comb of bamboo with four or five long 
prongs. The hair then assumes a capacious, bushy 
appearance, which has caused the people who adopt the 
latter practice to be called " mop-beaded Papuans." 
Some of the less known tribes plait the ringlets over the 
crown of the head, where they form a thick ridge. 
All these practices seem to be adopted for the one 
purpose of obviating the inconvenience that must result 
from the ringlets falling over the face while bunting or 
fishing, without entailing the necessity of parting alto- 
gether with a personal adornment in which they take great 
♦ 
