ture, but the natural stone-grey colour of the
fibre soon becomes tinted as the result of wear and the staining of
the wearer's body, and in particular it often becomes an ornamental
red. This belt also is finished on the man's body.

(6) A belt (Plate 15, Fig. 2) made of the inner fibre of what I was
told was another creeping plant [36] and the stem of a plant which
I believe to be one of the Dendrobiums [37]; made and worn by men
only. The fibres of the former plant are stained black; the reedy stems
of the other plant are put in short bamboo stems filled with water,
and then boiled. They are then easily split up into flattish straws,
and become a colour varying from rather bright yellow to brown. For
making the belt these two materials, looking rather like black and
bright yellow straw, are plaited together in various geometrical
patterns. The width of the belt is 2 inches, or a trifle more. It is
tied at the ends with fibre string.

(7) A rather special form of belt (Plate 15, Fig. 3) used mainly for
visiting and dancing; made and worn by both men and women. The belt is
made out of a hank of loose separate strands between 4 and 5 feet long,
tied together with string or bark cloth at two opposite points, so as
to form a belt of between 2 feet and 2 feet 6 inches in length. For
better description I would liken it to a skein of wool, as it looks
when held on the hands of one person for the purpose of being wound
off into a ball by someone else, but which, instead of being wound
off, is tied up at the two points where it passes round the hands of
the holder, and is then pulled out into a straight line of double the
original number of strands, and so forms a single many-stranded belt
of 2 feet or more in length. It is fastened round the waist with a
piece of bark cloth attached to one of the points where the hank has
been tied up. [38]

The number of strands is considerable. Belts examined by me and counted
gave numbers varying from eighteen to thirty-five, and the number of
strands of the belt round the body would be double that. Each strand
is made of three parts plaited together, and is one-eighth of an inch
or less in width. Various materials, including all the materials
used for armlets (see below), are employed for making these belts,
some for one and some for another. Sometimes a belt has its strands
all plaited out of one material only, in which case the belt will
be all of one colour. Sometimes its strands ar