34 
FASCICULI MALA TENSES 
wild indigo, across their foreheads, fastening them behind with streamers of 
teazed-out bark. Scarlet Hibiscus flowers are often stuck into the hair of young 
women, either just over one or both ears, or in a semi-circle across the top of 
the head. 
The women, and probably also the less sophisticated men, wear combs and 
hairpins, made either of bamboo or wood. The hairpins, which are fastened 
in an oblique direction in the hair at one side, are flat, dagger-shaped skewers, 
often of a beautiful species of bamboo, the surface of which is naturally figured 
with rich brown. The combs are of two very distinct types, only one of which 
was found in use among the Semangs. It is always of bamboo, with a variable 
number of teeth and a high decorated back-bone, and is worn upright much 
in the fashion of the tortoise-shell combs of the Cinghalese. Both the hair¬ 
pins and the combs of this type are generally ornamented with incised patterns, 
each of which has been stated to have a mystical meaning. Geometrical designs 
are most common upon them, but realistic plant forms sometimes occur, 
(Figs. 10, 12(f) and, occasionally, what may possibly be highly conventionalized 
ornithomorphic figures (Fig, 12a), The rude beast forms so common on 
bamboo objects made by the Semin appear to be unknown to the Mai Darat, 
and we did not see the 4 Argus Pheasant* design of the P 6 -K 16 either in South 
Perak or at Telom, unless the design in Fig. He can be regarded as a variant 
of it. The other form of comb consists of three or more cylindrical splinters of 
wood, tapering to a point, and very neatly bound together at the other end with 
dark fibre, which is plaited with great care. The two outer teeth are prolonged 
above the point of junction into horn-shaped projections extremely graceful 
in design (Fig. 8). 
Both sexes pierce the septum of the nose and introduce into the hole thus 
made either metal skewers, porcupines' quills, or other slender cylindrical 
objects. These are removed, however, m the vicinity of settled communities, 
for fear of ridicule. 
Earrings are sometimes, but by no means invariably, worn both by 
married women and by unmarried girls, but very often only the lobe of the 
right ear is pierced. The earrings are made either of metal or of bamboo. 
In the former case they are obtained from Chinamen or Malays, and consist of 
disks of brass or silver, often as large as half-a-crown. The bamboo specimens 
are hollow cylinders decorated in the same manner as the combs ; a specimen 
before us measures 44 mm. in length and 27 mm. in diameter. It was worn 
thrust through the lobe, and a bunch of sweet-scented grass was passed through 
the aperture. 
The younger women decorate their arms with spiral coils of stout brass wire. 
