632 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1893. 



Slat armor. Wooden slats twined together. Sitkans, Shastas^ 

 Iroquois, Virginia Indians. 



Rod armor. Wooden rods twined together. Aleuts, Sitkans, Coluni 

 bia River tribes, Klainaths, Hupas, Iroquois, Virginia Indians, etc. 



.Band armor. Bands of skin arranged in telescoping fashion. 

 Chukchis. 



SJtin armor. Coats of hardened hide. Tlingits, Haidas, Hupas, 

 Chinooks, Navajoes, Mohawks, Shoshones, Pawnees, Conianches, 

 etc. 

 Cotton-padded armor. Mexicans, Isthmians, and Peruvians. 



Three well-defined areas, including the above-mentioned types of 

 North American body armor, will be now considered, viz ; 



(1) Bering Strait area, the American shore of Bering Sea, and the 

 islands as far north as Gape Prince of Wales, inhabited by the Eskimo, 

 and the Asiatic- side, inhabited by the Coast Chukchis. (Plate 

 armor.) 



(2) Western area, extending from Sitka through northern California 

 and the central basin to Mexico. (Slat, rod, and skin armor.) 



(3) Eastern area, extending from southeastern Canada to Virginia, 

 inhabited by Algonkian and Iroquoian tribes. (Slat, or rod, and skin 

 armor.) 



The first two areas are known by actual specimens, while the third 

 area is historical. In the interior of the continent, according to his 

 torical notices, several stocks used armor. There is, therefore, suffi 

 cient testimony to show that if not universal the use of armor was at 

 least general among the North American tribes. 



1. BERING STRAIT AREA. 



The National Museum possesses a number* of examples of Eskimo- 

 Chukchis plate armor from Cape Prince of Wales, Diomede Island, St. 

 Lawrence Island, Alaska, and Cape Wankarem, Siberia. 



The most perfect specimens are from Cape Prince of Wales and Dio- 

 inede Island. (See pis. 2 and 3.) * 



* DESCRIPTION OF PLATE 2. 



Fig. 1, plate armor. Made of three rows of walrus-ivory plates, averaging 1 inch 

 in width and 6 inches in length. Each plate contains 6 holes, through which pass 

 rawhide thongs, thus lashing the plates together. These plates are slightly imbri 

 cated, as are also the different rows, so as to ward off more effectually the weapons 

 of the enemy. The lower row contains 43 plates, and the middle 38. The uppjer 

 row consists of two sections; one containing 10 plates, protecting the breast, the 

 other 8 plates, protecting the upper part of the back. A rawhide strap passes over 

 the shoulders and supports the armor. This armor very closely resembles that of 

 Japan. Length when spread out, 44 inches. (Cat. No. 153491, U.S.N.M. Eskimo 

 of Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska. Collected by H. R. Thornton). 



Fig. 2, plate armor. Fragment consisting of 9 iron plates similar to those on 

 Japanese armor, and bound with three lashings of rawhide. This speciimm was 



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