xx NOSE AND LIPS 



323 



and drags down, elongates, and everts the lower lip, so as to 

 expose the gums and teeth, in a manner which to our taste is 

 hideous, but with them is considered an essential adjunct to 

 an attractive and correct appearance. 



In the extreme north of America, the Eskimo " pierce the 

 lower lip under one or both corners of the mouth, and insert 

 in each aperture a double-headed sleeve-button or dumb-bell- 

 shaped labret, of bone, ivory, shell, stone, glass, or wood. 

 The incision when first made is about the size of a quill, but 

 as the aspirant for improved beauty grows older, the size of 

 the orifice is enlarged until it reaches the width of half to 

 three-quarters of an inch." l These operations appear to be 

 practised only on the men, and are supposed to possess some 

 significance other than that of mere ornament. The first 

 piercing of the lip, which is accompanied by some solemnity 

 as a religious feast, is performed on approaching manhood. 



But the people who, among the various American tribes, 

 have carried these strange customs to the greatest excess 

 are the Thlinkeets, who inhabit the south-eastern shores of 

 Alaska. 2 " Here it is the women who, in piercing the nose 

 and ears, and filling the apertures with bones, shells, sticks, 

 pieces of copper, nails, or attaching thereto heavy pendants, 

 which drag down the organs and pull the features out of 

 place, appear to have taxed their inventive powers to the 

 utmost, and, with a success unsurpassed by any nation in the 

 world, to produce a model of hideous beauty. This success is 

 achieved in their wooden lip-ornament, the crowning glory 

 of the Thlinkeet matron, described by a multitude of eye- 

 witnesses. In all female free-born Thlinkeet children a slit 

 is made in the under lip, parallel with the mouth, and about 

 half an inch below it. A copper wire, or a piece of shell or 

 wood, is introduced into this, by which the wound is kept 

 open and the aperture extended. By gradually introducing 

 larger objects the required dimensions of the opening are 

 produced. On attaining the age of maturity, a block of wood 



1 H. H. Bancroft, Native Races of the Pacific States of North America, 

 vol. i. 1875. 



2 See Bancroft, op. cit. vol. i., for numerous citations from original observers 

 regarding these customs. 



