1892-93.] NOTES ON THE WESTERN DEN^S. 117 



figured toilet article which had been made and was used by one of them 

 immediately before it was handed to me. If this comb stamps them as 

 good imitators, it must be confessed that it entitles them to no particular 

 claim to be ranked as artists. An examination of the cut will reveal the 

 extreme simplicity of the process of fabrication of this article. A set of 

 small holes have first been drilled with the hole-borer (fig. 130), after 

 which the portions of the wood whose veins had thus been cut asunder 

 have been extracted with the knife leaving out what becomes the tines 

 or prongs of the comb.* 



The original comb of the Western Denes was remarkable for the length 

 of its prongs rendered necessary by their peculiar way of wearing the 

 hair prior to their first encounter with European civilization. 

 In all probability, it was made in about the same style as the 

 above Carrier comb (fig. 107) which is not a toilet article, but 

 served the purpose of ritual observances. To secure success 

 in his trapping or snaring operations, the Carrier had, besides 

 lying down by the fireside, dreaming, etc., to make use of this 

 three-pronged comb, which consists in the juxtaposition of as 

 many wooden pins bound together with sinew lines. 



That our Western Denes are indeed a self appropriating 



■c- „ race is further evidenced by the tan'i or wooden cuirass which 

 rig. 107. ^ 



M size, the Carrier warriors used to don as a protection against the 

 enemy's arrows. This was composed, as a rule, of dried rods oi Amelan- 

 chier alnifolia (or Canadensis) disposed in parallel order and held together 

 by mearts of cariboo skin lines interlaced through the middle and near 

 both edges. It was identical with the wooden armour formerly in use 

 among the coast tribes from which it was undoubtedly borrowed. I have 

 never seen any ; but fig. 53, plate xv. in Niblack's "The Coast Indians 

 of Southern Alaska " f will give some idea of its general appearance. 



Composed of the same material was the ' kei-lla-tlmi\ or shield, which 

 was oval in form as the Roman clypeus. The mode of manufacture only 

 differed somewhat, as the branches or twigs of amelanchier were very 

 closely interwoven. No specimen is now available for illustration. 



Another wooden implement which, though I have seen in actual use, 

 I cannot figure herewith for the lack of a specimen to draw from, is 



* The Carrier name of the comb is tsi-ltzti, " the head is curried," a verbal noun. 



t Ann. Rep. U. S. National Museum, 1888. 



:;: Lit. " willow (or birch)-the hand-hold " ; 3rd categ. of nouns. 



