girls are simply dressed in the maro ; but the middle-aged women
wear in addition a kind of mantle of matting. On Yap island the
ordinary women are dressed in a kilt of split banana leaves, which
extends from the waist to' the knees ; and on festal occasions the
leaf petticoat is variously coloured, perfumed and ornamented with
flowers. Their ornaments are armlets of shells or polished cocoa-nut
hull, and necklaces of knotted bark-fibre cords. The chiefs are dis-
tinguished by wearing a lagoe or mantle of yellow-coloured matting
about eight feet long, which, having a hole in the centre through
which the head is passed, rests upon the shoulders. Women of high
rank sometimes add. a skirt descending to the middle of the legs and
a small apron to their ordinary dress. Both men and women cover
their head with a rimless conical hat woven of pandanus leaves.
Their hair is arranged in different fashions. Some have it collected
into a knot which is fixed to the back of the head; others permit it
to fall down freely on their shoulders in elegant, natural ringlets.
