The Mafulu - Mountain People of British New Guinea by Robert Wood Williamson
page 54 of 414 (13%)
page 54 of 414 (13%)
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eighth of an inch thick, having the appearance of short thick pieces
of string, (_d_) The top of the head undressed, but the sides, and sometimes the back, of the head done up in plaits like (_c_). (_e_) A manufactured long shaped fringe of hair, human, but not the hair of the wearer (Plate 20, Fig. 3), is often worn over the forehead, just under the wearer's own hair, so as to form, as it were, a part of it, pieces of string being attached to the ends of the fringe and passed round the back of the head, where they are tied. These fringes are made by tying a series of little bunches of hair close to one another along the double string, which forms the base of the fringe. Specimens examined by me were about 12 inches long and 1 1/4 inches wide (this width being the length of the bunches of hair), and contained about twenty bunches. It is usual to have two or three of these strings of bunches of hair tied together at the ends, thus making one broad fringe. These fringes are often worn in connection with styles (_c_) and (_d_) of hairdressing; but I never noticed them in association with (_a_) and (_b_). I was told that men who have become bald sometimes wear complete artificial wigs, though I never saw an example of this. The hairdressing of the women seemed to be similar to that of the men, except that I never saw the chignon-producing band, that they do not wear fringes, and that the entire or partial plaiting of the hair is more frequently adopted by them than it is by the men. I do not know whether the women ever indulge in entire wigs. Method (_a_) is seen in many of the plates. Method (_b_) is illustrated, though not very well, in Plate 9 (the fourth and fifth man from the left) and in Plate 21 (the young man to the |
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