Comb

Cisir

Note: The following text is taken from a 19th-century collection catalog and, in its language and perspective, partially reflects colonial thought patterns. We present the text in its original version to make the collection's history transparent and promote a critical examination of the colonial legacy. Certain terms and formulations may be perceived as problematic today. A 2009 research project concluded that most descriptions are factually correct and still usable; only a few details were found to be inaccurate or incorrect. The results of this project were published in the following collection catalog: https://khm-wmw-tm-library.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1457155265

"677 - 682. Hair combs - "Cisir"
Six combs of different shapes made of buffalo horn and wood, used by the men and women to comb their hair. The men wear their hair long everywhere in the Indian Archipelago and the culture demands that they take just as much time and care as the women for their hair. It is understandable, with their thick hair growth - as is the case generally with the natives - in the tropical heat and the length of the hair, which is always kept greased with coconut oil, that the parasites have a pleasant place to stay. The hair of each native, without difference of sex, age or rank, is alive with the well-known hectapods. Searching for lice is just as normal a daily occupation for the nobles and privileged people as for the poorest man and it is seen as a very natural activity and no one feels ashamed about it. One often sees whole crowds of men and women crouching on the ground very attentively searching around in each other's hair. The combs that are of use on South Celebes have either been made by the natives themselves or imported from Java and China."

Translation of: Czurda, F. A. J. (1883). Catalog mit Erklärungen der Etnografischen Privatsammlung des Dr. F. A. J. Czurda in Postelberg (Böhmen). (p. 161-162). Wien, Wilhelm Braumüller