At the _Exposition Universelle_ of 1867, in the collection sent by M. Desor, the visitors' admiration might have been called forth by some of the pins which had been repolished by the care of the learned Swiss naturalist. They were certainly very elegant, and ladies of the present day might well have decorated themselves with these ornaments, although they dated back to an era so many thousands of years ago.
Among many savage tribes, the dressing of the hair, especially among the men, is carried to an excessively elaborate pitch. The head of hair of an Abyssinian soldier forms a species of lofty system of curls which is meant to last a whole lifetime. He carries with him a long pin, furnished with a thick button, owing to the impossibility of reaching his skin through his _coiffure_ with the extremities of his fingers.
In the same way the New Zealanders wear an enormous "chignon," 2 feet high and ornamented with ribbons.
The Chinese and the Japanese also devote excessive attention to the dressing of their hair.
It is, therefore, probable that the inhabitants of the lacustrine villages, both men and women, devoted an immense amount of care to the cultivation of their _coiffure_. In the tombs of the bronze epoch, pins have been found 2-1/2 feet in length, with large knobs or buttons at the end, similar to those used by the Abyssinian soldiers of our own day. The combs, which resembled those of the present New Zealanders, although 6 inches long, had only six to eight teeth, and must have been better fitted to scratch their heads than to dress their hair.
Bracelets, too, have been found in some considerable numbers in the Swiss lakes. They are very varied in their shapes, decidedly artistic in their workmanship, and often set off with carved designs.
Some (fig. 191) are composed of a single ring of varying width, the ends of which almost meet and terminate by a semi-circular clasp; others (fig. 192), are a combination of straight or twisted wires ingeniously joined to one another.
[Illustration: Fig. 191.--Bronze Bracelet, found in one of the Swiss Lakes.]
[Illustration: Fig. 192.--Another Bronze Bracelet.]
We also find certain rings, cylindrical in shape, and made all in one piece (fig. 193), which were probably placed round the legs.