X 
ORNAMENTS FOR THE EARS AND LIPS 119 
mainly a skin-covered piece of fat. The size of the ear 
varies in different individuals, and the lobe presents 
great variations in shape and degrees of development in 
proportion to the helix. 
The various contrivances employed for adorning the 
ears among mankind may be set down in two classes, 
ear-studs and ear-rings. As a rule, ear-studs are in¬ 
serted into the helix and ear-rings into the lobe. In 
some instances the lobe is converted into a loop for the 
retention of the ornament. In many civilised countries 
ear-rings are worn in the 
lobe, and this style of 
decoration is usually con¬ 
fined to women. 
Among the Masai orna¬ 
ments are worn in the ear 
by men and women. When 
the boys and girls have 
passed through their 
“ initiation ceremonies,” 
the lobe of the ear is 
pierced and a thin spigot 
of wood inserted into the 
hole. Gradually this hole 
is enlarged by the intro¬ 
duction of thicker pieces of 
wood until it is large The external Ear, or Pinna, 
enough to receive a stone 
with a groove running round it. These stones vary in 
size, but the ultimate result is the transformation of the 
lobe into a rounded cord-like loop, which in the black 
ears of these men and women looks like a ring of india- 
rubber. Among the Masai the full size is attained 
when the cutaneous ring of one side will meet its fellow 
over the crown. 
The largest stone ear-plug in existence was presented 
to the British Museum by Mr. A. C. Hollis : it weighs 
two pounds and fourteen ounces. 
