DRESS. 
209 
female, is generally black, or very darkly tinged. 
The hair is either straight or curly, but never ap- 
proaching to the woolliness of the negro. It is usually 
worn short by both sexes, and is variously orna- 
mented at different periods of life. Sometimes it is 
smeared with red ochre and grease ; at other times 
adorned with tufts of feathers, the tail of the native 
dog, kangaroo teeth, and bandages or nets of different 
kinds.* 
When the head of the native is washed clean, and 
purified from the odour of the filthy pigment with 
which it is bedaubed, the crop of hair is very 
abundant, and the appearance of it beautiful, being 
a silken, glossy, and curly black. Great pains are, 
however, used to destroy or mar this striking 
ornament of nature. 
Without the slightest pride of appearance, so far 
as neatness or cleanliness is concerned, the natives 
are yet very vain of their own rude decorations, 
which are all worn for effect . A few feathers or 
teeth, a belt or band, a necklace made of the hollow 
stem of some plant, with a few coarse daubs of red 
or white paint, and a smearing of grease, complete 
the toilette of the boudoir or the ball-room. Like 
the scenery of a panorama, they are then seen to 
most advantage at a distance ; for if approached too 
* The same fondness for red paint, ornaments of skins, tufts 
of feathers, &c., is noticed by Catlin as prevalent among the 
American Indians, and by Dieffenbach as existing among the 
New Zealanders. 
VOL. II. 
P 
