Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 3.djvu/402

KONDH with Tartan ends which hang down in front and behind, and a coarse long-cloth is wrapped round the figure when the weather is cold. The war dress of the Khonds is elaborate, and consists of a leather cuirass in front, and a flowing red cloak, which, with an arrangement of 'bison' horns and peacock's feathers, is supposed to strike awe into the beholder's mind. Khond women wear a red or parti-coloured skirt reaching the knee, the neck and bosom being left bare. Pāno females generally wear an upper cloth. All tattoo their faces. [Tattooing is said to be performed, concurrently with ear-boring, when girls are about ten years old. The tattoo marks are said to represent the implement used in tilling the soil for cultivation, moustache, beard, etc.] Ornaments of beads and brass bangles are worn, but the usage of diverse muttas (settlements) varies very much. In some parts of the Goomsur Māliahs, the use of glass and brass beads is confined to married women, virgins being restricted to decorations composed of plaited grass. Matrons wear ten or twelve ear-rings of different patterns, but, in many parts, young girls substitute pieces of broorh, which are worn till the wedding day, and then discarded for brazen rings. Anklets are indispensable in the dance on account of the jingling noise they make, and gold or silver nose-rings are very commonly worn. [The Kondh of the Ganjam Māliahs has been described as follows.* " He centres his great love of decoration in his hair. This he tends, combs and oils, with infinite care, and twists into a large loose knot, which is caught with curiously shaped pins of sāmbur bone, gaily coloured combs and bronze hairpins with curiously ornamented designs, and it is then gracefully pinned over the left eyebrow. This