NEW GROUND. 
213 
the ring of a good-sized globe of wax. On the 
forehead or the temples our hero carries his fetish , 
which consists of a shell about the size of a five- 
shilling piece, called felana. About his throat 
are wound a number of strings of beads of various 
sizes, intermingled by a not very artistic collec¬ 
tion of pellets of wood, sometimes rudely carved. 
But the adornment of the ears is a sight to see. 
In the holes which penetrate the lobe he thrusts 
a large ring, or a thick piece of wood, which he 
allows to depend in the form somewhat of an ear¬ 
drop. Round his neck again, and crossing the 
breast, he bears a round fetish , or charm about 
half a foot in length, covered with numbers of 
tiny sparkling beads or buttons, with two or more 
longer ones at the end. The stock of his gun, as 
with the Sakalava, is an object upon which the 
Bara lavishes the greatest adornment and care. 
He covers it with brass-headed nails, and orna¬ 
ments it with stars and triangles made of pewter 
copper wire, according to his taste. He carries a 
sheaf of spears, the heads of which are of the 
finest and best-tempered metal, and which he 
keeps always beautifully bright of surface and 
keen of edge. The shafts of these weapons are 
often embellished with rings of brass - work, 
highly polished and let into the wood. Tinder- 
box, powder-horn, and cartridge-belt, which is 
often half-a-foot wide, he adorns in like manner. 
