| caption: |
Chapter Twenty-one. Head-Hunting Rites |
| caption: |
the great head-hunting dance described in detail |
| text: |
It is not until late in the afternoon that the great head-hunting dance begins, when every member of the morung, from the oldest men to the six-year-old boys, takes part. The men between forty and fifty, who have known the old days, and have captured heads in their youth, proudly put on their head-dresses with the curved horns, carved from the horns of buffaloes. Tassels of long human hair wave from the tips, and in between are fastened masses of different ornaments. Here is plenty of scope for individuality; one (173) man has fixed two huge hornbill beaks between his horns; another wears a white painted monkey skull. |
