Page:The Melanesians Studies in their Anthropology and Folklore.djvu/100

78 handsome. They are made of bark, painted with such vegetable preparations as it is a secret of the fraternity to compound, and adorned in bands and in rings round the eyes on either side with the scarlet seeds of the abrus precatorius. The hats receive the whole head, and come down upon the

shoulders, where they meet the cloak with a fringe of cycas leaves. The shape of the hats is very various; some have a strange resemblance to the cocked hats of naval officers, and it has been naturally supposed that the pattern has been taken from them. But it is very unlikely that a naval officer has