Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 40.djvu/65

Rh smelt no ores, but a dozen men in the tribe make from German silver neat and tasteful bracelets, armlets, rings, sakahon, and ear-rings. The jeweler's outfit consists of a square block of wood for an anvil, a hammer, a pair of shears, compasses, and a set of rude punches made from scrap iron, steel nails, bits of old files, etc. To make a finger-ring, the workman selects a piece of German silver and cuts from it a narrow strip long enough to encircle the finger. A square, rectangular, or oval piece of copper may be cut for a setting. This is marked with a neat design worked on with punches tapped by a hammer. The strip of white metal is bent into ring-form, the setting is laid upon it at the junction where the ends meet, and the two are firmly held together by a brass wire passed around them. A drop of solder is put upon the junction inside, a small stick is thrust through the ring to support it, and it is held in an open fire until the solder melts, flowing into the junction and cementing the whole firmly. After cooling, the ring is smoothed with a file and polished.

Sometimes we find the same object serving at once ornamental and useful purposes. The arm-rings of metal or ivory with which the African delights to cover his arms to the elbow are a useful protection against weapons. The metal rings worn by Latuka warriors on their right wrists are set with four or five sharp-edged knife-blades and are terrible weapons. The Isenga wear rings of considerable weight and sharp-edged; usually these are incased in leather sheaths, but, when uncovered, they become horrid weapons for hand-to-hand fighting. The very heavy armbands of the Wakamba are of triple use, serving at once as ornaments, parries, and striking weapons. Ornament often becomes money. The Nubian woman or the Hindoo frequently carries the family wealth on her person as silver ornaments. The important influence of ornament upon dress has already been considered in a preceding lecture.

We know of only one paper which treats at all fully of ornament. It is by Mougeolles, Although we do not concur in all the conclusions of this author, we wish to call attention to some propositions that he lays down. With the statement of these and of one or two additional, we shall close:

(a) With the growth of dress, ornament declined. If our view as to how dress developed is correct, this is natural. If dress began as ornament, the ornamental idea would gradually disappear as it passed into a modesty-covering and a bodily protection. As dress develops, the sort of ornament must change: ornament at first attached to the person, gradually passes into ornament attached to the dress. We notice here again an example of woman's conservatism. Man in civilization wears little ornament, and what he does wear is fastened to the dress; woman wears more