Note 12 — Dress and Ornament

Pigs’ tails are a common head decoration for women, and are also worn, though not so frequently, by men. These tails are covered with the natural hair of the tail, and are brown-coloured. They are suspended by strings passing round the crown of the head or from the plaits at the sides of the head. They are generally only about 6 inches long; but sometimes the ornaments into which they are made are much longer, and I have seen them worn by women hanging down as far as the level of the breast. These pigtails are sometimes worn hanging in clusters of several tails. They are also often, in the case of women, decorated with shells, beads, dogs’ teeth, etc., which are attached like tassels to their upper ends.12