RACIAL FEATURES 
tribal custom of pulling out carefully, one by one, each 
hair they possessed on the upper lip and upon the body — 
a most painful process. The women, as we shall see, in 
sign of deep mourning, also plucked out each hair of the 
scalp. 
A striking characteristic of the head in Papuan types 
was the great breadth of the maximum transverse of the 
head, and the undue prominence of the supra-orbital 
ridges. Also, the great height of the forehead and its 
great width in its upper part were typical of the race. 
The maximum antero-posterior diameter of the skull was 
equal, in many cases, to the vertical length of the head, 
taken from the angle of the jaw to the apex of the skull. 
The ears nearly invariably showed mean, under¬ 
developed lobes, but, strangely enough, were otherwise 
well shaped, with gracefully defined and chiselled curves. 
They were not unduly large, with a wonderfully well- 
formed concha, which fact explained why the acoustic 
properties of their oral organs were perfect. They made 
full use of this in long-distance signalling by means of 
acute whistles, of which the Rororos had a regular code. 
The favourite form of earring adopted by the Rororos 
was a brass ring with a metal or shell crescent, not unlike 
the Turkish moon, but I do not think that this ornament 
was of Rororo origin. Very likely it was suggested by 
the cheap jewellery imported into Rrazil by Turkish and 
Syrian traders. 
They displayed powerful chests, with ribs well covered 
with flesh and muscle. With their dark yellow skins they 
were not unlike beautiful bronze torsi. The abdominal 
region was never unduly enlarged, perhaps owing to the 
fact that their digestion was good, and also because they 
took a considerable amount of daily exercise. In standing 
they kept their shoulders well back, the abdominal region 
being slightly in front of the chest. The head was usually 
slightly inclined downwards. 
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