1826. 



PACIFIC AND BEERING'S STRAIT. 77 



heades, and ever as thei take an animal do cate her, chap. 



II. 

 saeing, thus wille I doe to our enemies."* 



Their bodies are in general very scantily clothed, Dec 

 and in summer many go entirely naked. The women, 

 however, wear a deer skin or some other covering 

 about their loins : but skin dresses arc not common 

 among any of the tribes concerning whom we could 

 procure any information. The women are fond of 

 ornaments, and suspend beads and buttons about their 

 persons, while to their ears they attach long wooden 

 cylinders, variously carved, which serve the double 

 purpose of ear-rings and needle-cases. 



Tattooing is practised in these tribes by both sexes, 

 both to ornament the person, and to distinguish one 

 clan from the other. It is remarkable that the v/omen 

 mark their chins precisely in the same way as the Es- 

 quimaux. 



The tribes are frequently at war with each other, 

 often in consecpience of trespasses upon their territory 

 and property ; and weak tribes are sometimes wholly 

 annihilated, or obliged to associate themselves with 

 those of their conquerors ; but such is their warmth 

 of passion and desire of revenge that very little hu- 

 manity is in general shown to those who fall into their 

 power. Their weapons consist only of bows and 

 arrows : neither the tomahawk nor the spear is ever 

 seen in their hands. Their bows are elegantly and 

 ingeniously constructed, and if kept dry will discharge 

 an arrow to a considerable distance. They resemble 

 those of the Esquimaux, being strengthened by sinews 

 at the back of the bow, but here one sinew, the size 

 of the wood, occupies the whole extent of the back, 



* Hakluyt's Selection of curious and rare Voyages, Supplement. 



