2-981-758 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Landing of the Prince of Wales at Colombo: the Governor introducing Cinghalese chiefs to the Prince [of Wales], from a sketch by one of our special artists, 1876. 'The Governor (the Right Hon. W. H. Gregory) presented the Executive and Legislative Councils, [some of the native chiefs] and the principal gentlemen...The Cinghalese men, almost without exception, wear the native costume...consists of a petticoat...and a sort of jacket, generally black. They wear their hair long, and tied in a knot like women's, and always wear a large comb, either stuck upright in the knob of hair, or (and this is the more general fashion) they wear a long comb extending right over the head and coming down behind the ears...The effect of all this is, of course, to give them a singularly feminine aspect, which is increased by the soft and gentle expression of face and features'. From "Illustrated London News", 1876.