I.AHKETS. 



147 



first to recognize that the disks were made of marble. All previous 

 writers speak of them as made of walrus ivory. 



There are still at Point Barrow a few labrets of a very ancient pattern, 

 siieh as are said to have been worn in the middle of the lip. These are 

 very rarely put on, but are often carried by the owners on the belt as 

 amulets. All that we saw were of light green translucent jade, highly 

 polished. I obtained one specimen, No. 8070&quot;) [8(50] (figured in Point 

 Barrow Rept., Ethnology, PI. v, Fig. 1 ), a thin oblong disk of light, green, 

 translucent, polished jade, -Hi inches long, I/I wide in the middle, and 

 0-8 wide at the ends, with the outer face slightly convex. On the back 

 is an oblong stud with rounded ends, slightly curved to fit the gums. 



Labrets of this material and pattern do not seem to be common any 

 where. Beechey saw one in Kotzebue Sound 3 inches long and li wide, 

 and there is a large and handsome one in the Museum brought by Mr. 

 Nelson from the lower Yukon. A similar one has recently been re 

 ceived from Kotzebue Sound. 



Fig. 94, No. 89712 [1109], from Sidaru is a labret of similar shape, 3 

 inches long and 14 broafl. but made of compact bone, rather neatly 

 carved and ground 

 smooth. It shows 

 some signs of having 

 been worn. There 

 are marks on the stud 

 where it appears to 

 have been rubbed Km. w-ow.ms lai.rct ,&amp;gt;f i, m-. 



against the teeth, and it is probably genuine. The purchase of this 

 specimen apparently started the manufacture of bone labrets at Ttki- 

 avwlfi, where no bone labrets, old or new, had previously been seen. 

 For several days after we bought the specimen from Sidaru the natives 

 continued to bring over bone labrets, but all so newly and clumsily made 



that we declined to purchase 

 any more than four specimens. 

 About the same time they began 

 to make oblong labrets out of 

 soapstone (a material which we 

 never saw used for genuine la 

 brets), like Fig. 95, No. 89707 



Flo. 95. Oblnny labret of N 



[1215]. The purchase of three specimens of these started a whole 

 sale manufacture of them, and we stopped purchasing. 



The oblong labret appears to have been still in fashion as late as 182&amp;lt;&amp;gt;, 

 for Elsou saw many of the men at Point Barrow wearing oblong labrets 

 of bone (if. No. 89712 [11(59] and stone, 3 inches long and 1 broad. 2 Un 

 fortunately, he does not specify whether they were worn in pairs or 



1 Voyage, p. 249. 



! lieechey s Voy.. p. 308. 



IVEI. 



