22 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 190 



wore their hair in a uniform style (C 134) : one braid (JR 38: 249) 

 or tress which hung down the back and was tied up with leather 

 thongs (S 143). Wlien they went to a dance, their tresses were care- 

 fully combed, dyed, and oiled, with a tuft of hair tied up behind 

 with eel skin as a band (C 134). The men also dyed their hair. 

 Some wore their hair long, others short, and still others on one side 

 only (C 133-134). The men wore their hair above their ears in one 

 or two great rolls "like moustaches," which they often twisted and 

 corded with feathers and other articles. The rest of the hair was 

 kept short, cut in sections, with a ruff like that outside the tonsure, 

 or in any other manner they pleased (S 143). The men cut their 

 hair in different ways: some wore it in ridges, a ridge of hair one 

 or two fingers wide on the crown of their heads and on either side the 

 same amount shaved off and then another ridge of hair ; others shaved 

 one side of their heads and on the other left the hair long, so that it 

 reached to their shoulders. Most commonly, the men allowed their 

 hair to grow very long. Some said that the French name for these 

 Indians came from these hair styles : their heads reminded a French 

 sailor or soldier of boars (hures) and he called them Hurons (JR 

 16: 229-231; 38: 249 ).2^ 



In order to remove lice from skins and furs, two sticks, one on 

 each side, were placed in the ground in front of the fire and the skins 

 spread over them, the side without hair being next to the fire. The 

 vermin, feeling the heat, came out of the hair and remained on the 

 surface, where the women caught them without trouble and ate them 

 (S 228). 



Women also ate the lice from their own bodies and from those of 

 their children (S 88). 



TRAVEL 



TraA^el within Huronia and to other tribes was by foot and by canoe. 



Their largest canoes were from 8 to 9 paces long and a pace or pace 

 and a half wide at the middle, tapering off at both ends ; others were 

 smaller (S 100). The largest canoes held five, six (S 56), or three 

 men and the smallest, two (S 246). The size varied as to the use to 

 which the canoe was put (S 100), the smaller vessels being used if 

 the route had rapids, difficult channels, portages, etc. (S 246). A 

 canoe could carry the weight of a hogshead (S 101). They were 

 made of birchbark, strengthened with small hoops [ribs] of white 

 cedar, light enough to merely skim over the water and to be easily 



28 The frequency with which this etymology has been cited in the secondary sources re- 

 flects the writers' interest in etymology, not the accuracy of the statement ; it Is suggested 

 only tentatively by the Jesuits. It is quite possible that even by this early date it was a 

 folk etymology. 



