HURON WOMEN. XXXlil 



knee, besides the wampum decorations of the breast and 

 arms. Their long black hair, gathered behind the neck, 

 was decorated with disks of native copper, or gay pen- 

 dants made in France, and now occasionally unearthed 

 in numbers from their graves. The men, in summer, 

 were nearly naked, — those of a kindred tribe wholly so, 

 with the sole exception of their moccasins. In winter 

 they were clad in tunics and leggins of skin, and at 

 all seasons, on occasions of ceremony, were wrapped 

 from head to foot in robes of beaver or otter furs, some- 

 times of the greatest value. On the inner side, these 

 robes were decorated with painted figures and devices, or 

 embroidered with the dyed quills of the Canada hedge- 

 hog. In this art of embroidery, however, the Huron s 

 were equalled or surpassed by some of the Algonquin 

 tribes. They wore their hair after a variety of grotesque 

 and startling fashions. With some, it was loose on one 

 «ide, and tight braided on the other ; with others, close 

 shaved, leaving one or more long and cherished locks ; 

 while, with others again, it bristled in a ridge across the 

 crown, like the back of a hyena.^ When in full dress, 

 they were painted with ochre, white clay, soot, and the 

 red juice of certain berries. They practised tattooing, 

 sometimes covering the whole body with indelible de- 

 vices.2 When of such extent, the process was very 

 severe ; and though no murmur escaped the sufferer, he 

 sometimes died from its effects. 



Female life among the Hurons had no bright side. It 

 was a youth of license, an age of drudgery. Despite an 

 organization which, while it perhaps made them less sen- 



1 See Le Jeune, Relation, 1633, 85. — "Quelles hures!" exclaimed 

 some astonished Prenchman. Hence the name, Hurons. 



2 Bressani, Relation Abrdgde, 72. — Champlain has a picture of a war- 

 rior thus tattooed. 



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