THE SOLOMON ISLANDS 
445 
considerably from those of the eastern portion of the 
archipelago. The preponderance of the Papuan type is, 
however, unquestionable. Mr. Guppy describes the 
typical native as of a deep brown colour, with a loose 
frizzled mass of hair forming itself into a bushy periwig. 
The nose is short and generally straight, but often arched; 
the lips prominent, the chin receding. The average 
height of the men does not exceed 5 feet 4 inches, but 
the Bougainville people are taller and sturdier, and of 
deeper colour. The hair is often stained light brown by 
lime, or of a ruddy or magenta tinge by various coloured 
earths. It is cut as a sign of mourning. The beard is 
very variable: in some instances fully developed, but in 
most scanty or almost absent. The dress is of the 
slightest, at most a T-bandage, but in many cases, and 
almost invariably among the inland tribes, the men go 
entirely naked. In San Cristobal the unmarried women 
are completely without clothing, and the married women 
nearly so. The lobes of the ears are often greatly 
distended, and the septum of the nose pierced as among 
the New Guinea Papuans, whom they also resemble in 
their excessive love of personal adornment. The Solomon 
islander loads himself with bracelets, nose and ear orna¬ 
ments, necklaces, and girdles, in the construction of which 
he shows great ingenuity. He makes circular or crescentic 
plates of pearl-shell, overlaid with open tortoise-shell work, 
like those of the Admiralty islanders, these being used 
as pendant ornaments for the chest. The snowy Ovulum 
ovum is also much w T orn. The necklaces are of small 
shells, porpoise, dog, or other teeth, and beads. Bracelets 
ground out of the huge valves of the Tridacna are 
favourite ornaments, and of late traders have introduced 
imitations of these made in white china. On festal 
occasions the flowers of the scarlet hibiscus are used 
