ck lips, would be
beautified by two rows of sound regular teeth if the latter were not so
blackened by the constant chewing of tobacco, betel-nut and sirih.

The chin is sharp.

All the features, in fact, are very marked and the jaws are a little
projecting but the countenance is not an unpleasant one and wears an
expression of frankness and goodness that soon wins sympathy.

The head is covered with a rich, crisp growth of very black hair but few
hairs are to be seen on the face or body. Those rare ones, whose
appearance would be rapturously hailed by our youths as the forerunners
of a possible mustache or beard, are plucked out by the Sakais in their
spare time!

A great many ladies would be highly contented to possess the beautiful
tresses that the Sakai woman generally has, but whilst amongst us an
artistic arrangement of the hair is an attraction which often makes us
forget the lesser charms of the face, the raven locks of these women
sometimes cause a feeling of disgust.

They do not take the least care of this splendid ornament bestowed upon
them by Nature; when they do not let their hair hang dirty and
dishevelled upon their shoulders they just tie it up badly with a strip
of many-coloured upas bark (a remedy against migraine) stick in some
roughly carved combs and hair-pins (amulets against the malignant spirit
of the wind) and adorn it with fresh flowers.

But alas! under that bow of natural ribbon, under those combs and
flowers there is a tiny world of restless inhabitants and the poor
primitive Eve is obliged to scratch her head furiously now and then.

And not less furiously does the man also scratch his though he takes
much more pains over his hair, combing and smoothing it in order to
divide it well in front and display the tattoo which distinguishes the
parting.

Frequently both the men and the women rub into their heads the finely
pounded root of a plant to which they attribute the virtue of softening
their rough, luxuriant locks and of destroying the inmates.

Even the men sometimes wear combs and hair-pins.

* * * * *

Cleanliness as the reader will have understood from the example given
above is not the highest quality of the Sakai any more than it is of
other primitive peoples. Hygienic practices march alongside civil
progress. The bath, as a pleasure or a necessity, is quite unknown to
them, and those who dwell amongst the mountains have the greatest fear