The Pickaback Motif in the Art and Initiation of the Rovuma Area

Abstract

types of Makonde mask. The smooth hairstyle, shaved at the corners of the forehead, was widespread in this part of Africa until recently. In the lower Rovuma region, hair was worn short and was shaved at the temples and above the brow by the Mwera, Yao (Weule 1908, pl. 1) and Swahili (Luschan 1897, pls. X, XI), as well as the Makonde. This hairstyle was common to both sexes, as was the hole bored through the middle of the left ear. 2 However, there are holes at both corners of the mouth for attachment of a beard, whose remnants appear in one of the holes. The absence of lip plugs, worn north of the Rovuma only by women (Weule 1908:82), also indicates that the mask depicts a male face, although as early as the beginning of this century women could be found without them (Weule 1908:27, 82). The sculpture of the seated figure has a face similar to that of the mask, but it is finer and more rounded. The hairstyle, with the forehead shaved in a curve and