476 
wear it plain though sometimes it has red borders—the depth of 
the hilt being .5 metre; the latter wear a narrower kilt, one 
third of a metre deep, ornamented by three horizontal rows of 
cowries, except on the part in front which is overlapped; where it over- 
lies the trochanters also, cowries are omitted. This plain underpart 
is pulled close to the right thigh by means of a string attached to 
the lower corner and fixed to the upper border behind. There is worn 
besides, a white cloth of cotton or nettle-fibre with narrow red and 
blue borders, or with black stripes. This is 1.75 metre long, i metre wide. 
It is thrown loosely over the shoulder, or if the wearer be actively em¬ 
ployed is bound firmly on. Men sometimes discard it when at work, but 
women always wear it tightly bound over the mammae. Above this is 
worn another cloth, the same in size, but coloured ; usually it is blue with 
particoloured borders and fringes, distinctive of different groups of villages. 
Many men wear leggings of finely plaited cane, so padded with cotton as 
to make the shin bulge equally with the calf: these are never removed. 
Bands of narrow canes dyed black are worn between the knee and the 
calf. When a youth comes of age he puts one or two conch shells on his 
neck and dons armlets of brass or ivory or, if he cannot get these, of 
plaited cane. These ornaments are meant to ward off blows. After slay¬ 
ing an enemy he wears round his neck strings of cowries, or of cornelian 
beads, interspersed with locks of hair. When many foes have fallen by 
his hand, he wears on his breast an oblong frame of neatly plaited cane 
ornamented with rows of cowries and locks of his victims’ hair. The 
great ambition is to possess these; women treat undecorated suitors with 
scorn : once gained they are always worn. The desire to gain these in¬ 
signia led formerly to much bloodshed. Brass ornaments,—huge rings or 
coils of wire—are worn in the ears, and when their favorite flowers. Orchids 
and Alpinias, are not in bloom, tufts of coloured cotton are placed beside 
the rings. Warriors often replace the rings by wild-boar tusks, ornamented 
with elytra of beetles and locks of dyed hair. The women are less 
ornamented than the men ; still, they wear ear-rings and armlets of brass, 
and cornelian necklaces, placing bright flowers and tufts of dyed cotton 
in their ears, like the men. The hair of children is closely cropped; one 
tuft is left on a boy’s head, nothing on a girl’s. The boy’s hair may grow 
when he reaches puberty, the girl’s when she is no longer a virgin. Women 
bind the hair loosely behind ; men wear it long and loose, or bound 
in a queue; or cut in various patterns by way of decoration. 
6 
