NEW GROUND. 
215 
wherever she went. Over her shoulder were 
from two to twenty strings of very small black, 
white, or blue beads, but about her throat were 
wrapped strings of huge porcelain or coral beads, 
interspersed with some in silver. This adorn¬ 
ment reached to the chest. Her not particularly 
clean fingers were furnished — I cannot say 
adorned—with brass and pewter rings in pro¬ 
fusion, sometimes having as many as ten on each 
finger. Wrists and forearms were also bedizened 
with brass armlets, twenty-four in number, and 
very heavy (the heavier the more highly prized), 
and twisted much after the fashion of the light¬ 
ning conductor, this special pattern having be¬ 
come quite the correct fashion. She wraps four 
or five yards of calico or print about her, reach¬ 
ing nearly to the knees. 
But how shall I describe the artistic finish of 
the head ? “ Knobs ” is the prevailing fashion, 
as in the case of the men; but with an originality 
which is as fresh as it is charming, little brass 
oxen are fixed by means of pins at unstudied 
intervals all over the chignon, which is also 
bedecked with beads, and glimmers and shimmers 
in a truly wonderful fashion when the proud 
possessor condescends to appear for a moment 
in the full light of the sun. But a special 
feature of the feminine toilet is another lame 
O 
knob of hair exactly over the centre of the fore- 
