DRESS AND PHYSIQUE OF THE ESKIMOS. 223 



or in old times the bow, in a case slung across the back, by a 

 string passing round the chest. 



The women do not have such good figures, but are inclined to 

 slouchiness, which they perhaps get from trotting ahead of the 

 dogs when traveling with sledges. They are seldom inclined to 

 be fleshy, though their plump, round faces, along with their thick 

 fur clothing, often give them the appearance of being fat. They 

 generally have round, full faces, with rather high cheek-bones, 

 small, rounded noses, full lips, and small chins. Still, you now 

 and then see a person with an oval face and aquiline nose. Many 

 of the men are very good-looking, and some of the young women 

 are exceedingly pretty. Their complexion is a dark brunette, 

 often with a good deal of bright color on the cheeks and espe- 

 cially on the lips. They sunburn very much, especially in the 

 spring, when the glare of the sun is reflected from the snow. 

 They have black or dark-brown eyes and abundant black hair. 

 The women's hair is often long and silky. When they are young 

 they have white and regular teeth, but these are worn down 

 to stumps before middle life is reached. Cheerful and merry 

 faces are the rule, and they are altogether pleasant people to see 

 and to associate with. The men cut their hair square across 

 the forehead and comb it down into a regular " straight bang," 

 with long locks on each side of the head, covering the ears, 

 but clip a round spot on the crown of the head like a monk's ton- 

 sure, and a strip about two inches wide from this tonsure down 

 the back of the head to the nape of the neck. They say that, un- 

 less the hair is clipped off on the crown and back of the head, 

 the man will suffer from snow-blindness in the spring. The 

 women part their long hair smoothly down the middle from the 

 forehead to the back of the neck, and gather it into a braid on 

 each side behind the ear. When they are dressed up, these braids 

 are wound round and round with a long string of small, bright- 

 colored beads, and the whole finished off with a flat brass button 

 fastened into the hair behind each ear. They wear ear-rings, too, 

 usually made of long glass beads, dangling from a little ivory 

 hook which fits into the hole in the ear. They are all tattooed 

 with one, three, or five narrow blue lines running from the under 

 lip to the chin. The men are seldom tattooed, but instead, they 

 wear the curious labrets, or lip-studs, which are peculiar to the 

 Eskimos of the Northwest. These are large studs of stone or 

 bone, like sleeve-buttons, which are buttoned into holes in the 

 under lip, one at each corner of the mouth. At first sight, these 

 ornaments appear a hideous disfigurement, but it is surprising 

 how quickly one gets used to them. The most fashionable 

 labrets, which are worn on " swell " occasions, are made of white 

 marble in the form of flat disks, about an inch and a half in diam- 



