The outer one is made on dark fibre, the inner on cotton yarn, which would appear to have been obtained extra-tribally.
Combs for festive occasions are made of palm wood, with spines of the Bacába palm[71] for teeth, fixed in with pitch, and are ornamented with feathers. These tribes do not bind up their hair with coroá string as do some of the Uaupes Indians.[72] As may be judged from the illustrations, hair-dressing fashions are not very varied. They range for the men from quite short, as among the Muenane, to the long hair fancied by some of the Boro. The majority wear their hair slightly shorter than the women’s, as a rule divided down the middle, but occasionally cut straight across the forehead in a shock fringe, reminiscent of the coster’s. The only variation among the women is a band, a strip of beaten bark-cloth, occasionally seen among the Resigero (see [Plate XII.]).[73] The Makuna wear their hair in pigtails. The Karahone women keep their hair cropped short. In the Boro comb of the illustration the black spines are set between two pieces of cane, bound over with fibre, and finished with basket-work of narrow cane strips, light and dark, plaited into a regular pattern. The spines are 3¼ inches long, and project to within a quarter of an inch of the ends for about 1⅜ inch on either side of the basket-work back. This is 3¾ inches long and about half an inch thick. The spines are neatly pointed at either end, and the whole resembles very nearly—but for the uncommon effect of the basket-work—a European comb of rather large and coarse make.
The Andoke comb is also made with two pieces of cane, slightly decorated with chevron incisions. It is a quarter of an inch shorter than the Boro comb, and has spines on one side only. These are set in pitchy matter between the cane, and project seven-eighths of an inch. From the hardened centre at one end depends a short tuft of fibre string, to which feathers may be attached, and a longer string from the other end is fastened to half a nutshell cut as a cup, very similar to the tobacco pot, and made from the same kind of nut. This is 2⅛ inches long by 1⅛ deep in the centre, and 1½ across. It is black and highly polished. This small cup is used to hold the latex employed for depilatory purposes.
Fig. 7.
The Witoto comb is of much rougher construction, with a thicker back. As with the Boro, the spines are set right through, but instead of a section of cane, two sticks, round bits of bamboo or reed are employed, and the whole coated with pitch and tied with fibre string. The length of the spines is a quarter of an inch longer than in the Boro comb, but owing to the more clumsy back they project a quarter of an inch less.
PLATE XII.
GROUPS OF RESIGERO WOMEN
