124 
EASTERN ETHIOPIA 
X 
like cord of tissue capable of surrounding a cylin¬ 
drical jar, or a disc of wood, witli a diameter of 
three or four inches, that these deformed ears are 
regarded by their owners with pride and their 
neighbours with envy. This is the case. To break ' 
one of these rings of tissue is a great offence. In 
all countries, civilised and uncivilised, rival beauties ■ 
The Ear of a Kikuyu man with a ring in the lobe 
and reeds in the helix. 
are liable to c[uarrel and even fight desperately ; iu ' 
such encounters each combatant endeavours to ruin the , 
beauty of her rival. Scratching furrows in the cheeks 
is a common form of revenge. Shakespeare, in his i 
description of the scene in which Margaret, Queen to i 
Henry VL, boxes the ears of Eleanor Cobham, Duchess 
of Gloucester, makes the angry duchess shriek : 
