BOUKKK.) THE DRINKING EKED. 493 



time of attaining womanhood wear pendant from the neck a scratcher 

 of abalonc shell, which they had to use for an indefinite period when 

 the scalp became irritable. 



Prof. Otis T. Mason, of the National Museum, informs me that there 

 is a superstition in Virginia to the effect that a young woman enriente 

 for the first time must, under no circumstances, scratch her head with 

 her lingers, at least while uncovered; she must either put on gloves or 

 use a small stick. 



The Parsi have a festival at which they serve a peculiar cake or bread 

 called &quot;draona,&quot; which is marked by scratches from the finger nails of 

 the woman who has baked it. 1 



No stress has been laid upon the appearance in all parts of the world 

 of &quot;back scratchers&quot; or &quot;scratch my backs, made of ivory, bone, or 

 wood, and which were used for toilet purposes to remove irritation from 

 between the shoulder blades or along the spine where the hand itself 

 could not reach. They are to the present day in use among the Chinese 

 and Japanese, were once to be found among the Romans and other 

 nations of Europe, and instances of their occasional employment until 

 a very recent date might be supplied. 



THE DRINKING UEEO. 



Exactly what origin to ascribe to the drinking reed is now an im 

 possibility, neither is it probable that the explanations which the 

 medicine-men might choose to make would have the slightest value in 

 dispelling the gloom which surrounds the subject. That the earliest 

 conditions of the Apache tribe found them without many of the com 

 forts which have for generations been necessaries, and obliged to 

 resort to all sorts of expedients in cooking, carrying, or serving their 

 food is the most plausible presumption, but it is submitted merely as a 

 presumption and in no sense as a fact. It can readily be shown that 

 in a not very remote past the Apache and other tribes were compelled 

 to use bladders and reeds for carrying water, or for conveying water, 

 broth, and other liquid food to the lips. The conservative nature of 

 man in all that involves his religion would supply whatever might be 

 needed to make the use of such reeds obligatory in ceremonial observ 

 ances wherein there niight be the slightest suggestion of religious im 

 pulse. We can readily imagine that among a people not well provided 

 with forks and spoons, which are known to have been of a much later 

 introduction than knives, there would be a very decided danger of 

 burning the lips with broth, or of taking into the mouth much earthy 

 and vegetable matter or ice from springs and streams at which men 

 or women might wish to drink, so the use of the drinking reed would 

 obviate no small amount of danger and discomfort. 



iShayast li i-shnyast. nap. 3, par. 32, p. 284 (Max Miiller edition, Oxford, 1880). When the &quot;dr6n&quot; has 

 been marked with three rows of tiu^er-nail srratehe.s it is railed a &quot;frasa*t.&quot; 



