The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1907-08-31
or INTEREST TO
Women A., and , Offers

becomes dlstended The neck BY de-
grees lengthens. Every year the vigil
liant mother adds a ring to the orig
inal collar and faithfully continuing
the process through years. such UNI
usual productions of stylish artificial
ity are obtained as those reproduced
herewith. The only apparent advan-
tage derived from so much trouble and
discomfort il that, at a glance. any one
must know that the poor victims of a
foolish custom are of high degree. and
from their birth have been exempt
from mental toll.
Women are not alone in improving
their beauty regardless of torture. The
drilling through of the front teeth for
the inserting of jewels or metal plugs
is also a widespread custom. Captain
Cook found it practced among some
islanders of the Pacific. who inserted
crystals in the cavities thus formed.
The Peabody Museum excavations at
Copan brought up skulls the teeth of
which we're so adorned with turquoise
inlays. DR.. w. H. Furness also mem
tions the practice among the Ibans of
Borneo, who use star-headed brass
plugs for the purpose. Nothing could
be more excruciating than the pain en-
dured in the process Of boring through
the most sensitive nerves of the six
front teeth, yet it is cheerfully accept
ed in obedience to custom and a desire
to be stylish.
Among the Kenyan and Kayan wo-
men of Borneo, who allowed their
waists and internal organs fulr play.
the craving for the improvement of
their charms leads the mothers on the
second or third day after a child's
birth to make a slight perpendicular
incision Nm the lobe of each ear. This
is kept open by inserting a pledget OF
cloth or a plug of wood until the
wound had healed. Then several small
pewter or copper rings are inserted
and gradually increased in size and
number until the lobe and the skin of
the neck below the ear become so
stretched that the womens earrings
hangs far down on the chest. The
stretching process is stopped for the
men when the earring grazes the
shoulders. Should the original slit not
prove sufficiently large, or should a
girl wish to enhance her charms by an
enlaged ear lobe, a small split cylinder
of bamboo, the edges of which are
sharpened like knives, is clamped upon
the skin above the former slit and graz
dually cuts through, thus enabling the
stretching process to extend higher up
to the skin of the ear and the cheek.
Other tribes do not elongate the ear
lobes, but enlarge them by inserting a
round button or large mushroom
shaped plug of silver work imported
by the Malay traders.
Doctor Furness says that one even
ing while entertaining the daughter OF
his host, Tama Bulan, with pictures Of
European women in some illustrated
papers, she was filled with boundless
amazement at their wasplike waists.
She utterly failed to understand how
any woman could endure the hourly
suffering entailed by such horripIe
squeezing by steel bands, which he
told her were the secret Of their ex-
traordinary shape. Yet, while gazing
and marveling at these pictures OF
what rational human beings suffer in
order to reach local standards of con.
ventional loveliness, she, Door thing
was herself constantly with her hands.
as If to obtain but for one brief mo-
ment relief, the enormous weight OF
several pounds of copper rings dang
ling and blinking on her shoulders
from her poor elongated ear lobes
What is really remarkable about the
matter is that the victims themselves
Will not admit their suffering. if only
satisfied that the style attained is ire
proachable. Women who lace, when
they cannot deny the fact, always pre-
tend that they are more comfortable
trapped up. No doubt the Malay girl
would contend that she would not
know what to do with a normal neck
and the Borneo girl would feel lost
without her pounds of copper jingling
at her ears. Eels get accustomed to
being skinned is the old saying. Ger
tain it is that custom has a relentless
hold upon its devotees. The most seri-
GUS opposition met with by the British
wnen they abolished the "suttee," or
burning of the widow on her husbands
funeral pyTe, is said to have come
from the widows themselves. s.. S.