€iiap. XIX. 
LOVE OF ORNAMENTS. 
341 
As the face with us is chiefly admired for its beauty, 
so with savages it is the chief seat of mutilation. In 
all quarters of the world the septum, and more rarely 
the wings of the nose are pierced, with rings, sticks, 
feathers, and other ornaments inserted into the holes. 
The ears are everywhere pierced and similarly orna- 
mented, and with the Botucudos and Lenguas of South 
America the hole is gradually so much enlarged that 
the lower edge touches the shoulder. In North and 
South America and in Africa either the upper or lower 
lip is pierced; and with the Botocudos the hole in the 
lower lip is so large that a disc of wood four inches in 
diameter is placed in it. Mantegazza gives a curious 
account of the shame felt by a South American native, 
and of the ridicule which he excited, when he sold his 
iemheia , — the large coloured piece of wood which is 
passed through the hole. In central Africa the women 
perforate the lower lip and wear a crystal, which, from 
the movement of the tongue, has a wriggling motion 
indescribably ludicrous during conversation.” The 
wife of the chief of Latooka told Sir S. Baker that his 
wife would be much improved if she would extract 
her four front teeth from the lower jaw, and wear the 
‘‘ long pointed polished crystal in her under lip.” Fur- 
ther south with the Makalolo, the upper lip is perforated, 
and a large metal and bamboo ring, called a 'pelele, is 
worn in the hole. This caused the lip in one case to 
project two inches beyond the tip of the nose ; and 
when the lady smiled the contraction of the muscles 
elevated it over the eyes. ^ Why do the women wear 
‘^Hhese things?’ the venerable chief, Chinsurdi, was 
asked. Evidently surprised at such a stupid question, 
he replied, ‘ For beauty ! They are the only beautiful 
A2 i Albert N’yanza/ 1866, ,vol. i. p. 217. 
