cut shells so
generally used in Mekeo for necklaces, and the flat disc-like shell
sections, which are here, as in Mekeo, specially used for straight
hanging pendants; also those lovely large crescent-shaped discs of
pearl shell, which are well known to New Guinea travellers. The shells
are, of course, all obtained directly or indirectly from the coast;
in fact, these are some of the chief articles for which the mountain
people exchange their stone implements and special mountain feathers,
so the similarity in the ornaments is to be expected; but it is only
within a quite recent time that the pearl crescents have found their
way to Mafulu. I do not propose to describe at length the various
forms of shell ornament, as they are very similar to, and indeed I
think practically the same as, those of Mekeo. Some of the necklaces
are figured in Plates 31, 32 and 33, and they are worn by many of
the people figured in other plates, especially the frontispiece and
Plate 17. Straight pendant ornaments are seen in the frontispiece and
in Plates 6, 17, 26 and others. The crescent-shaped pearl ornaments
are seen in the frontispiece and in Plates 6, 7, 16, 28 and others,
a very large one being worn by the little girl in Plate 71.

There is, however, one shell necklace which is peculiar to the
mountains, and, I think, to Mafulu (I do not know whether the Kuni
people also wear it), where it is worn as an emblem of mourning
by persons who are relatives of the deceased, but who are not
sufficiently closely related to him to stain themselves with black
during the period of mourning. This necklace is made of white cowrie
shells varying in size from half an inch to an inch long, each of
which has its convex side ground away, so as to show on one side the
untouched mouth of the shell and on the other an open cavity. The
shells are strung, sometimes closely and sometimes loosely, on to a
double band of thin cord. Specimens of this type of necklace measured
by me varied in length from 36 inches (with 97 shells) to 20 inches
(with 38 shells). It is worn until the period of mourning is formally
terminated. The middle necklace in Plate 33 is a mourning shell
necklace, and it is seen on the neck of the woman to the right in
Plate 29.

Pigs' tail ornaments similar to those already described are also worn
suspended by neck-bands over the chest.

Armlets and wrist-bands are worn by both men and women, and more or
less by children, including quite