BEADED COIFFURES ornaments; ... cowries are worthless. Beads and bead ornaments are not highly prized, with the exception of what are called “mandjur” in Sudan—dark blue cylindrical beads used for belts or necklaces, and small blood- or coral-red beads, which are used to decorate head coverings. The latter, of a helmet form reminiscent of antiquity, and already mentioned by Baker, are made of thickly matted human hair which is decorated with pieces of copper, red beads, cowries, empty brass shell casings, Abrus precatorius seeds, and the like. But the main ornament for them is the feather tufts, similar to former European hat ornaments, which are made of feathers chosen to be as colorful as possible.9 115 FIG. 5 (above): Coiffure. Acholi, Uganda. Late 19th century. Human hair, leather, glass beads, thread. L: 23 cm. Collected by Col. Charles Delmé- Radcliffe in 1902. British Museum, inv. Af1902,0714.31. © The Trustees of the British Museum. FIG. 6 (left): “Mielli head-dress.” From Major Percy Powell-Cotton, In Unknown Africa, 1904, p. 439. FIG. 7 (below): “Dodinga head-dresses.” From Major Percy Powell-Cotton, In Unknown Africa, 1904, p. 393.
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