The Colouring Matter Of The Hair, Naturally A
Bluish-Black, Is Removed By A Mixture Of Quicklime And Water, Or In The
Desert By A _Lessive_ Of Ashes [15]:
This makes it a dull yellowish-white,
which is converted into red permanently by henna, temporarily by ochreish
earth kneaded with water.
The ridiculous Somali peruke of crimsoned
sheepskin,--almost as barbarous an article as the Welsh,--is apparently a
foreign invention: I rarely saw one in the low country, although the hill
tribes about Harar sometimes wear a black or white "scratch-wig." The head
is rather long than round, and generally of the amiable variety, it is
gracefully put on the shoulders, belongs equally to Africa and Arabia, and
would be exceedingly weak but for the beauty of the brow. As far as the
mouth, the face, with the exception of high cheek-bones, is good; the
contour of the forehead ennobles it; the eyes are large and well-formed,
and the upper features are frequently handsome and expressive. The jaw,
however, is almost invariably prognathous and African; the broad, turned-
out lips betray approximation to the Negro; and the chin projects to the
detriment of the facial angle. The beard is represented by a few tufts; it
is rare to see anything equal to even the Arab development: the long and
ample eyebrows admired by the people are uncommon, and the mustachios are
short and thin, often twisted outwards in two dwarf curls. The mouth is
coarse as well as thick-lipped; the teeth rarely project as in the Negro,
but they are not good; the habit of perpetually chewing coarse Surat
tobacco stains them [16], the gums become black and mottled, and the use
of ashes with the quid discolours the lips.
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