Evening star., 1902-08-29
FIJIAN HAIRDRESSING
FEARFUL AND WONDERFUL CoIF-
FUREs DISPLAYED.
Designs of Geometry, Sculpture, Archi.
lecture and Horticulture Are
on Exhibition.
From the New York Times.

From the New York Times
Nowhere does nature lend herself to the
grotesque she does in the hair of the
Papuans. The Papuan hair combines all
the woolliness of the negro variety with
the stiffness of that of the American In
dian. While it frizzes 1t grows long and
wiry, and radiates from the head so as to
form a resemblance to a mop. Thus far ma
ture-but the original genius of the Fijians
comes in here, and the effect Is startling
No one has visited Fiji In the past without
being astoniShed at the fearful and won
derful styles they affect. They are geo.
metrical and sculpturesque having all the
accuracy and smoothness of a polished
marble statue; they are architectural, vary
Ing from the Gothic to the Elizabethan;
they are horticultural, suggesting here a
crop of well-kept box trees and there
patch of flaming furZe, and yet again
collection of stunted sage bushes growing
on a tumulus in an alka1i desert; they are
monumental, pyramidal, trapezoidal-they
are beyond description. An additional fac
tor in the production of the grotesque is
that the hair varies in color as lime varies
in bleaching power. Between black and
white the cOlorS run through blue-black
and all the shades of red and yellow. Often
half the hair is red and the other half
white. A common fashion is to leave
bush of black hair curled short on the top
of the head and then wrap coils of plated
red hair round and round until the wearer
looks as ferocious as that
wild Mogul
With tenfold turban round his tenfold skull.
Black and White.
Another fayorite combination consists Of
a dense mass Of black with a large bow Of
white in front-a bow very similar to the
knot on the head of the statue of Diana or
Venus. Another custom is to have all the
hair piled in large red roll at the back of
the neck, as to look like monstrous ag
gravated wen. Among the "mountaln dev-
ils' of Fiji it was no uncommon thing to
meet chief with a tuft of flaming fire on
the top of his otherwise bald head, the
effect against the setting sun being Pente-
costal in the extreme. Many of the women
have heads which look as if they had once
been virgin bush, but now partially cleared
so that cross roads ntersect, leaving clumps
here and there Others have left the darker
underground intact and have once and
again spared a tree Of lighter shade to re-
lieVe the eye. This one here looks as If
she has gone bald all over the rest of her
head through striving to perfect two tufts,
one on each temple. These tufts are some
thing after the style of the bosses worn by
our Observation-Disclosures, only not
quite so ugly. Yet all these are styles
which are within the grasp Of the multi
tude. Men of superior rank employ a fash
U
men. The hair is divided into locks which
are allowed to grow out at right angles to
the surface of the skull, and then the ends
are fnVaginated, so as to form a cone with
the base outward. When a great number Of
these locks radiate from the head the accu-
racy of design and the neat way in which
the cones or pyramids fit into each other
give an effect which is like carved and pol
ished jet, done by master hand. Such an
effect would be impossible were 1t not for
the fact that Fijian hair Is very plastic in
the mass and obedient to any arrangement
on the radiating principle.
Hair Intelligence.
1t must be understood that hair has
kind of natural intelligence and cannot be
warped against it's own bent. The North
American Indians cylindrical hair will not
stay in curl; the negros fiat tapelike locks
will not straighten and the Papuan's
tresses will not flow. Even the Fijlan
then, cannot make more out of his hair
than nature permits. 1t is built on the ra-
dating principle, and his elaborate styles
and notifications must all refer to that
No Fijian could wear his hair down his
back in wavy locks or part it in the middle
to any purpose. On the other hand, it
lends itself admirably to symmetrical ar
rangement by means of twisting and coil
ing and clipping, and. in the end, by con-
summate art he can almost draw corks
with 1t. Those who work in hair devices
say that there is nothing of greater i'm
portance in the art than this natural intel
ligence Of the hair. 1t has a will and a
way of its own. I. can be led but not
driven Yet this fact is ordinarily over
looked. Some sixty years ago a famous
English beauty dressed her hair in a unique
style. Her curls were made to cling to
her cheek and then to spread out into
massy clusters about her neck and shoul-
ders. She divulged the secret Of it to none.
but it was thought that on her death bed
c1, u0l111 i,,cf ha
must pass his magic word on to another
before he can die. But she did not, and 1t
is said the secret was lost. Now, it is
more than probable that the trick of 1t was
a part of the nature Of the hair and no
amount of coaxing and pressing would have
produced the same effect upon another
head. Taking the nature and adaptability
of hair into account then it may be said
that the only reason why the Ffjians fall
short Of being the master BARRIERS Of the
world is, that they have only one kind of
hair to work with.
Art of Dyeing.
At the same time, what they accomplish
with that one kind is nothing less than
marvellous The art of dyeing and bleach
ing comes in for a large share of attention,
too. Sometimes the mass of hair is left
perfectly black, and one or two thick coils,
bleached white with lime, are braided
across the top of the forehead, and occa-
sionally red, white and black are seen on
the same head. The art of dyeing is SO
well studied, indeed, that the Fijian in
London might easily prove his loyalty by
wearing the red white and blue in his
marvellous coiffure Dyed hair always looks
unnatural, but when a band Of ashy white
crosses the brow Of a young man of twen-
ty or black skinned girl Of ten rejoices in
halo of light, f1axen hair, the effect is strik-
ing and grotesque: The tendency Of this
savage adornment is no worse than that of
civilized adornment. 1t makes for neatness,
self-respect and social etiquette. The
strange thing is that whereas in civilized
lands much dressing of the hair has often
been denounced by the church as device
of the devil, in savage countries 1t does not
appear that the missionaries have attempt
ed to datten out the Fijian's hair. The
passion for hair Is inherent in human ma
ture, and 1t would be hardy missionary
who would attempt to knock it out Of the