The pagan tribes of Borneo - Get a Free Blog Here

MATERIAL CONDITIONS 47
corset is made to open partially or completely down
the front, but is often worn continuously for long
periods. She wears her hair tied in a knot at the
back of her head.
The principal garment of the women of all the
other peoples is a skirt of bark or cotton cloth,
which is tied by a string a little below the level of
the crest of the hip bone ; it reaches almost to the
ankle, but is open at the left side along its whole
depth. It is thus a large apron rather than a skirt.
When the woman is at work in the house or
elsewhere, she tucks up the apron by drawing the
front flap backwards between her legs, and tucking
it tightly into the band behind, thus reducing it to
the proportions and appearance of a small pair of
bathing-drawers. Each woman possesses also a
long-sleeved, long- bodied jacket of white cotton
similar to that worn by the men ; this coat is
generally worn by both sexes when working in the
fields or travelling in boats, chiefly as a protection
against the rays of the sun. The women wear also
a large mushroom-shaped hat similar to that worn
by the men. With few exceptions all the women
allow the hair to grow uncut and to fall naturally
from the ridge of the cranium, confined only by a
circular band of rattan or beadwork passing over
the occiput and just above the eyebrows.
The principal ornaments of the women are necklaces
and girdles of beads, earrings, and bracelets.
A well-to-do Kayan woman may wear a large
number of valuable beads (see Pis. 28 and 31). The
bracelets are of ivory, and both forearms are sometimes
completely sheathed in series of such bracelets.
jThe ear-rings are the most distinctive feature of the
Kayan woman's adornment. The perforated lobes of
the ears are gradually drawn down during childhood
and youth, until each lobe forms a slender loop
which reaches to the collar-bone, or lower. Each