| caption: |
Chapter Five. Heathens and Baptists |
| caption: |
beautiful young Ao girls return to house |
| text: |
Dusk had come, and the women of the house returned from the fields. They sat down among the men without the slightest shyness. Young Ao girls are pretty creatures, with soft, happy faces, and such light skins that you often see the red blood showing on their cheeks. Tastes differ, however, and when, many months later, I pointed out a particularly lovely Ao girl to the Konyak dobashi Chingai, he showed little enthusiasm and remarked that her lips were too pale. Compared to the lips of Konyak women, scarlet from betel, her mouth did indeed appear pale, and I am afraid that as long as lipsticks do not find their way into the Naga Hills, the Aos will have to forego the favours of their Konyak neighbours. I don't suppose they really mind, for the blackened teeth of the Konyaks must be anything but attractive to girls used to the magnificent white teeth of their own men folk. |
