The Malay archipelago : the land of the orang-utan ... - Wallace Online

xsxi.] ARU ISLANDS.—RESIDENCE IN THE INTERIOR. 355no means so pleasant to look at as the men. Their stronglymarkedfeatures are very unfeminine, and liard work, privations,and very early marriages soon destroy whatever of beauty orgrace they may for a short time possess. Their toilet is verysimple, but also, I am sorry to say, very coarse and disgusting.It consists solely of a mat of plaited strips of palm leaves, worntight round the body, and reaching from the hips to the knees.It seems not to be changed till worn out, is seldom washed, andis generally very dirty. This is the universal dress, except in afew cases, where Malay " sarongs " have come into use. Theirfrizzly hair is tied in a bunch at the back of the head. Theydelight in combing, or rather forking it, using for that purposea large wooden fork with four diverging prongs, which answersthe purpose of separating and arranging the long tangled, frizzlymass of cranial vegetation much better than any comb could do.The only ornaments of the women are earrings and necklaces,which they ari'ange in various tasteful ways. The ends of a necklaceare often attached to the earrings, and then looped on to thehair-knot behind. This has really an elegant appearance, thebeads hanging gi-acefully on each side of the head, and byestablishing a connexion with the earrings give an appearanceof utility to those barbarous ornaments. We recommend thisstyle to the consideration of those of the fair sex who still boreholes in their ears and hang I'ings thereto. Another style ofnecklace among these Papuan belles is to wear two, eachhanging on one side of the neck and under the opposite arm, soas to cross each other. This has a very pretty appearance, inpart due to the contrast of the white beads or kangaroo teeth ofwhich they are composed with the dark glossy skin. The_ earringsthemselves are formed of a bar of coj^per or silver twistedso that the ends cross. The men, as usual among savages, adornthemselves more than the women. They wear necklaces, earrings,and finger langs, and delight in a band of plaited grasstight round the arm just below the shoulder, to which they attachabuncli of hair or bright coloured feathers by way of ornament.The teeth of small animals, either alone, or alternately withblack or white beads, form their necklaces, and sometimesbracelets also. For these latter, however, they prefer brass wire,or the black, horny, wing-spines of the cassowary, which theyconsider a charm. Anklets of brass or shell, and tight plaitedgarters below the knee, complete their ordinary decorations.Some natives of Kobror from further south, and who arereckoned the worst and least civilized of the Aru tribes, cameone day to visit us. They have a rather more tlian usuallysavage appearance, owing to the greater amount of ornamentsthey use—the most consi^icuous being a large horseshoe-shapedcomb which they wear over the forehead, the ends resting onthe temples. The back of the comb is fastened into a piece ofwood, which is plated with tin in front, and above is attached aplume of feathers from a cock's tail. In other respects theyA A 2