North Queensland Ethnography. Bulletin No. 15. Decoration, deformation, and clothing
Abstract
[Excerpt from p. 22] ... The men's hair, combed out with a pointed kangaroo bone, was allowed to grow long, and when necessary the throms would be cut off to make hair-twine. Head-lice were considered an advantage; a man would often lie down with his head resting in his wife's lap when she would comb his hair, examine for the vermin, perhaps eat some, make a peculiar smacking noise when squeezing others, or, if it were perfectly clean in this respect, she would infect it from some one else's head. The beard was very seldom allowed to grow long. Each sex would have the entire limbs and body, except the genitalia, rendered free from hair by singeing with a file-stick—parts which they could not reach, their friends would singe for them. The entire surface would then be smeared with charcoal and grease (T. Petrie).
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