It thus appears that ornaments, painting, and sculpture have been of no small influence in enhancing the fighting powers of warlike nations. Among the lower tribes of man these arts are, however, on the whole much more appreciated as means of frightening the enemy. As was mentioned in a preceding chapter, some bodily deformations are, if we may believe the natives, undertaken solely for this purpose.[454] Other warlike tribes endeavour to make themselves dreaded by their enemies by staining their bodies with ghastly colours, blood-red, azure, or black. Tattooing may, of course, often aim at the same end. And among the detached ornaments there is an especial class—for which the German ethnologists have invented the characteristic designation “Schreckschmuck”—which are only worn in order to make the appearance more frightful. The war helmets of the Thlinkeets[455] and the curious tooth masks of the Papuas are the most typical specimens of this pre-eminently warlike decoration.[456] The highest development of art as a means of terrifying is, however, to be found in the decorated shields of the Dyaks. No form of pictorial threat could be more effectual than the devices which ornament the face of these ghastly weapons. A grinning mouth, with sharp tusks in either jaw, is always to be found in the middle of the shield. Above it stand a pair of staring, circular eyes, usually surrounded by dark and light concentric rings. Sometimes also there is a highly simplified outline of the lower parts of the body. The trunk is completely ignored, and arms and legs are quite swamped in a bewilderment of entangled lines, which extend over the whole surface of the shield. But in this ornamentation the warlike motive is repeated over and over again. Tusks protrude from the scrolls, and big round eyes stare menacingly out between them. Thus even the decorative “padding” (Einfüllung) operates as a multiplied expression of defiant menace. As an eloquent commentary on this text the whole shield is furthermore hung with tufts of human hair,—trophies of vanquished enemies,—which partly conceal the brown, red, and black design.[457] The whole composition, which in a description may seem merely bizarre and brutal, is, however, executed with a severe symmetry and a wild grace which afford a most peculiar contrast to the weird motive. By these æsthetic qualities the ornamentation acquires an art-value which is quite independent of its supposed military advantages. One can indeed easily understand that the savage foes of the Dyaks may be paralysed with terror when confronted in battle with those glaring eyes and menacing jaws. But even the civilised observer who examines at his ease the shields which stand in the glass cases of ethnological collections must needs be impressed by their power. Though they do not frighten us, they are not, as might be expected, mere examples of ridiculous grimace. They still extort