Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 40.djvu/62

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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

her ankles was so great as to necessitate wrapping these with rags." Nubian women are particularly fond of silver, often wearing several watch-chains, three pairs of bracelets, bangles, ankle and leg ornaments, hair-pins, etc. That things were not much better in olden days is shown by Isaiah's remarks regarding the Jewesses: "Moreover the Lord saith. Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched-forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet. . . . In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like the moon, the chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers, the bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and the tablets and the ear-rings, the rings and nose jewels, the changeable suits of apparel and the mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping pins, the glasses, and the fine linen, and Fig. 9.—Samoan Chief with Ornaments. the hoods and the veils" (Isaiah, iii, 16-23). King Munza, whose state dress we spoke of in the last lecture, had an extensive wardrobe of ornaments. It occupied several apartments. In one room there was nothing but hats and feathers, especially those of the red parrot, arranged in great round tufts. In one hut were bundles of tails of civets, genets, patamochoeri, and giraffes, with skins and thousands of ornaments. There were also long strings of teeth of rare animals, one of more than one hundred lions' fangs. Surely it would seem that he had enough. An even more striking illustration of discomfort endured for the sake of display than that of Sebatuane's sister is the African belle who wore copper arm-rings which became so hot in the sun's rays that she was obliged to have an attendant with a watering-pot who would from time to time drench her to cool the metal.

We have already said that the desire for ornament has led to much material progress. We believe that to it must be attributed the origin and development of metal-working. The evidence of this will be found in an examination of the metal-work of various primitive peoples. The bronze relics from the Swiss lakes are exceedingly various, but much the larger number of them are