64 



BONE IMPLEMENTS AND ORNAMENTS. 



Like other races of hunters, the aborigines of Nortli America were in the 

 habit of jierforating the teeth of wild animals they had killed, and of Avearing 

 them as trophies in the shape of nccldaees or pendants. The teeth of bears, 

 it seems formed the most favorite ornaments of this kind, being either left in 

 their natm-al state and merely pierced at the root (Fig. 21(3, E"ew York), or 



IMPLKMESTS AND URXAMESTS OF BONE (!). 



brought into a more regular shape by grinding and smoothing, like a number 

 of specimens from Alaska (Fig. 247), which may, however, belong to a com- 

 paratively recent period. Modern Indians, it is well known, wear as tokens 

 of their prowess necklaces made of the claws of the grizzly bear (Fig. 248, 

 Rocky Mountains, recent), and a number of drilled claws of the panther 



