BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE TSIMSHI 



53 



Leaders dressed much more elaborately. A painted or embroidered 

 apron (fig. 17) and leggings (figs. 16, IS) decorated in the same manner 

 were added to the blanket. The Tsimshian and Tlingit also wore 

 ornamental blankets of mountain-goat wool. 1 Aprons and leggings 

 were made of similar material. The apron 

 and leggings seem to have been parts of the 

 ceremonial costume worn at dances rather 

 than ordinary dress. , 



The children of the nobility were tat- 

 tooed on the back of the hands and on the 

 chest with designs representing their crests. 

 The helix of the ear was perforated four 

 times; and large ear-ornaments made of 

 long tassels of wool, with square pieces of 

 abalone shell attached to them, were worn 

 pendant from these perforations. Teeth of 

 the killer whale were also worn as ear- 

 ornaments. The septum of the nose was 

 perforated, and a horizontal bar of bone, or a pendant made of 

 abalone shell or of the tooth of the killer whale, was worn as a nose- 

 ornament. The lower lips of women were perforated in the center, 

 and labrets were worn in this hole. Young girls wore a thin nail 



Halibut hook. 



Fig. 12. I 



with a head on the inner side. With increasing age the size of the 

 labret was increased, and old women wore large wooden plugs inlaid 

 with abalone shell. It is said that noble girls used to bite on a green- 

 stone pebble in order to wear down their incisors. 



Fig. 13. Bow. 



Weapons were, besides bow and arrow, dagger, spear, and club. 

 Warriors protected their bodies by means of armor made of rods or 

 slats and a loose outer armor of heavy hide. All of these were painted 



