Page:Ling-Nam; or, Interior views of southern China, including explorations in the hitherto untraversed island of Hainan (IA cu31924023225307).pdf/193

 Lun-Chow and the Iu People. 189

departs. In their dress they use light-green cloth, em- broidered in the five colours, with floss silk, and the form of an old cask worked on the back. These are called their varieguted clothes. The men and women bind up their hair, and wear large earrings and silver circlets around their necks. The young men, when they come of age, wear an under garment of red cloth, and stick a white cock’s feather in their hair. The women wear a three-cornered turban, pointed at the top, and round at the bottom, Such is the dress of the Inu people.”

Another account says: “Fifteen miles south-west of Lien-chow, and about one hundred and thirty-five miles in circumference, is a region of lofty mountain ranges, full of steep and dangerous places, where the Iu people dwell. All the Ius comb their hair into a tuft on the crown of the head, and go barefooted. Clothes made of striped and coloured hempen cloth, with green and red colours, and cock’s feathers adorning the hair, are considered beautiful. Their disposition is fieree and cruel, but they are intensely superstitions. They delight. in killing their enemies. They can endure hunger for long periods. When the children begin to walk, they sear the soles of their feet. with hot irons or stones, so that they become hard like wood, enabling them to walk through thorns and briers without injury, it is said. The products of their country are Indian corn and pine timber.”

The river from Sam-kong to Lien-shan divides their country into two sections. That to the west stretches through the high mountain ranges on the borders of