NELSON] LABRETS 49 
‘The people of Kowak and Noatak rivers, like those of Point Hope 
and the adjacent Arctic coast, wear large labrets, varying from half an 
inch to nearly two inches in diameter. The materials from which these 
are made varies greatly, among them being granite, syenite, jadite, 
quartz, slate, glass, lignite, and wood, as well as walrus and fossil mam- 
moth ivory. The heads, as already described, may be round, squarely 
beveled, angular, knoblike, or of various other forms. The photographs 
of men taken at Point Hope and Kotzebue sound show the appearance 
of these objects when in place (plate Xx11I and figure 10), 
Fic. 10—Kotzebue sound Malemut men and women. 
The specimen from Point Hope, figured in plate xx11, 24, is a knob- 
head labret made of a dark green stone. Another from the same 
locality (plate xxi, 15) has a hat-shape base of ivory with a large blue 
bead on a wooden pin inserted in a hole made in the basal portion of 
the labret. 
In wearing large stone labrets, the lip is dragged down by their 
weight, so that the lower teeth and gums are exposed. It is the usual 
eustom to wear but one of the larger size at a time, one of smaller 
dimensions being inserted on the opposite side of the mouth. While 
traveling with these people in winter, I found that during cold’ days 
18 ETH——4 
