swA.NTnNl INDIAN Tini^l'.S OI' 'I'm-; l,()\Vi:iJ mississiimm nai.i.kv 55 



.■iiul iiiidci' tlu> lif.-ul M mass of rlay wliicli slic liiiuls willi all Ih-i" stn-iiKtli 

 bi'twiH'ii two littli' lutards. The infant (.Ties, tnrns ((iinplclcly i)lack, and tlio 

 strain which it is niatlc to suffer is such tliat a white, slimy lluid is seen to 

 come out of its nose and ears at the time wlu-n the motlier jiresses on its fore- 

 liead. It sleei)s thus every nijiht until its skull has taken on the shajte which 

 cusliim wishes it to rccei\c. Soni(> savaijes near Mo])ile he^^in tn disal)USo 

 themselves, iliromrh nur example, of a firatitication whiili costs so dear." 



I)ii Piatz says of the ornaments of men jreiierally : 



The ornaments for festivals arc in themselves as simple as the garments. 

 The youths are as vain as elsewhere, and are charmed to vie with one another in 

 seeing who shall he most dressed up, so much so that they put vermilion on 

 themselves very often. They al.so put on bracelets made of the ril)S of deer 

 which they have worked «h)wn very thin and bent in boiling water. These 

 bracelets are as white and as smooth as polished ivory outside. They wear 

 glass l>eads in necklaces like the women, and one sometimes sees them with a 

 fan in the hand. They put white down around the head, which is shaved. But 

 to the little forelock or skein of liaii- which they leave in the middle of the 

 fontanel of the head they attach the whitest straight feathers they r;iii liiid. 

 They do, in short, everything that a young head is capable of inventing to .kIoimi 

 themselves.^ 



The warriors may also have the lower parts of the ears slit, in order to pass 

 through them iron or brass wire in the form of worm screws, a full inch in 

 diameter.*^ 



The women ornament themselves with earrings made of the core of a great 

 shell called '* bnrgo," of which I have spoken. This ear iiciidant is as large as 

 the little finger and at least as long. They have a hole in the lowei- part of 

 each ear large enough to insert this ornament. It has a head a little larger 

 than the rest to i)revent it from falling ont.*^ 



Of the use of this shell Diimont speaks more at length, as follows: 



There ape found besides on the shores of the sea beautiful shells of a spiral 

 shape called "burgau." They are very suitable for making pretty tobacco 

 boxes, for they carry their mother-of-pearl with them. It is of these burgau 

 that the savage women make their earrings. For this purpose they take the 

 ends of them and rub them a long time on hard stones and thus give them the 

 shape of a nail ]»i'ovided with a head, in order that when they put them in 

 their ears they will be stopped by this kind of pivot, for these savage women 

 have their ears laid open very nuich more than our French women. One might 

 pass the thumb, however large, through [the slit]. The savages also wear on 

 their necks plates about 'A ny 4 inches in diameter, made of pieces of this shell, 

 which they shape in the same manner on stones and to which they give a round 

 or oval shajie. They then iiicn-e them near the edge by means of fire and use 

 them as ornaments.^ 



The Luxembourg memoir thus confirms the above seemingly exag- 

 gerated statements rf'gai'ding the size of the apertures made for ear- 

 rings: 



Their greatest ornament c<Misists of bead necklaces of different colois, with 

 which they load the neck and the ears, where they have holes, as well as the 



" Memolre sur La Louisi;>ne, 135-136. 



'■ Dii I'ratz, Hist, de La Louisiane, ii, 197-198. 



"^ Uiid., liOO (190). 



•i Ibid., 195 (106). 



" Diimont, Mem. Hist, .sur La Louisiane, i, 94-95. 



