160 
HAIR-DRESSING. 
liair, some curly, and others frizzy, hut all bind 
it with coloured kerchiefs, or, failing such, a strip 
of palm-leaf. The gay young beaux spend much 
time in arranging: the hair : those to whom 
nature has given only straight locks use a 
crimping instrument. Just behind the post- 
holder’s house stood a long unused prahu, in 
which rain-water had collected, and this was the 
village mirror. It was an unfailing amusement 
to me to watch the row of youths standing 
there in the morning, tying with utmost nicety, 
and apparently with great vanity, the different- 
coloured bandages, one just edging over the 
other to see that the well-combed locks were 
properly confined, and finish with some last co- 
quettish touches. The old men do not dye the 
hair; many even middle-aged are being per- 
suaded of the benefit of having it cut short, and 
I was constantly being besought for a loan of 
my scissors. One day I had been cutting a red 
star from a label to paste on a child’s forehead, 
when some of the onlookers — such were rarely 
absent from our house — got possession of them. 
H. asked me to try to get some specimens of the 
hair, and I motioned to a man to let me cut a 
piece. In the most complacent manner he laid 
his head on my lap, for he expected I was to 
