[Narrative Of The Voyage Of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, Commanded By The Late Captain Owen Stanley, R.N., F.R.S. Etc. During The Years 1846-1850. Including Discoveries And Surveys In New Guinea, The Louisiade Archipelago, Etc. To Which Is Added The Account Of Mr. E.B. Kennedy’s Expedition For The Exploration Of The Cape York Peninsula. By John Macgillivray, F.R.G.S. Naturalist To The Expedition. In Two Volumes. Volume 1. by John MacGillivray]@TWC D-Link book
Narrative Of The Voyage Of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, Commanded By The Late Captain Owen Stanley, R.N., F.R.S. Etc. During The Years 1846-1850. Including Discoveries And Surveys In New Guinea, The Louisiade Archipelago, Etc. To Which Is Added The Account Of Mr. E.B. Kennedy’s Expedition For The Exploration Of The Cape York Peninsula. By John Macgillivray, F.R.G.S. Naturalist To The Expedition. In Two Volumes. Volume 1.

CHAPTER 1
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A round thin, concave piece of shell (Melo ethiopica) with a central black portion, is often worn suspended by a string round the neck, and similar ornaments, but much smaller, are attached to the hips and elbows.

The long nose-stick of shell is only occasionally worn, although everyone, of either sex, has the septum of the nose pierced for its reception--an operation most likely performed during infancy, as I once saw that it had been done to a child about a year old.
Nearly all the men carried in their hair a comb projecting in front or on one side.

This article is usually made of wood, but occasionally of tortoise-shell, a foot in length, thin, flat, and narrow, with about six very long, slightly diverging, needle-shaped teeth, but it admits of much variety of size and shape, and frequently has various ornaments attached to it.

The spatula used by betel chewers to introduce the lime to the mouth, although often made of tortoise-shell and resembling that figured above, is more commonly made of coconut-wood, with a massive handle, deeply divided by a slit, and when struck upon the knee it is made to produce a loud clicking noise like that of castanets..


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