XIII 
ETHIOPIAN FASHIONS IN HAIR-DRESSING 163 
district ( 1888 ) and described the men. They go naked, 
not from necessity, for they have large herds of cattle 
and hides, but it is the fashion 
amon<i' them. Some of the 
O ^ 
Mashukulumbi have their hair, 
as well as that removed from 
the heads of their wives, worked 
into a tall cone two and a half 
feet high. The base of the cone 
is fixed to the back of the head, 
and made to curve forwards so 
that its apex is straight above 
the head, and to it a strip from 
the horn of a sable antelope is 
fixed. This strip of horn is 
strong enough to stand upright, 
yet waves with every movement 
of the head. A cone of hair and 
horn sometimes measures five 
feet in height. In building 
these cones the hair is made to 
felt with grease, and as it can¬ 
not be washed when once worked 
up in this way, soon swarms with 
vermin. A metallic stylet is 
stuck in the tuft to serve as a 
scratcher when the vermin are 
too active. 
Selous shrewdly remarks that 
men with hair dressed in this 
way must necessarily live in an 
open country ; they never could 
get through bush. I have had 
an opportunity of examining two 
of these cones from Mr. Selous’s 
museum. Mr. Long, who re¬ 
cently visited the Alashukulumbi, 
informed me that this odd 
The head of a Mashukulumbi 
with a fantastic chigiiou 
fifty inches high. The 
cone is formed of hair and 
the terminal section is a 
strip of horn from the sable 
antelope. (From a speci¬ 
men kindly lent by Mr. 
F. C. Selous.) 
M 2 
