OR SITKA ISLANDERS. 49 



truth of my narrative makes it necessary for me 

 to submit to the revolting task of showing to 

 what point of degradation human nature may 

 sink. 



The Sitka Islanders, as well as their neigh- 

 bours on the continent, are large and strongly 

 built, but have their limbs so ill-proportioned, 

 that they all appear deformed. Their black, 

 straight hair hangs dishevelled over their broad 

 faces, their cheek-bones stand out, their noses 

 are wide and flat, their mouths large, their lips 

 thick, their eyes small, black, and fiery, and their 

 teeth strikingly white. 



Their natural colour is not very dark; but 

 they appear much more so than is natural to 

 them, from the custom of smearing themselves 

 daily over the face and body with ochre and a 

 sort of black earth. Immediately after the birth, 

 the head of the child is compressed, to give it 

 what they consider a fine form, in which the eye- 

 brows are draw^n up, and tlie nostrils stretched 

 asunder. In common with many other nations, 

 they tear the beard out by the roots as soon as 

 it appears. This is the business of the women. 

 Their usual clothing consists of a little apron ; 



VOL. II. D 



