750 



KYUWATKAL LABRETS 



[b. a. e. 



Cayoquits. — Armstrong:, Oregon, ISd. 1.S57. Cayu- 

 quets.— .Tewitt, Narr., 77, 1849. Kayo'kath,— Boas 

 in 6tli Rep. N. W. Tribes Can. ,31, 1X90. Kayo- 

 kuaht.— Brit. Col. map, 1872. Kycu-cut.— Mayne, 

 Brit. Col., 2.51, 1861. Ky-u-kaht.— Can. Ind. Aff., 

 ■276,1894. Ky-ukahts.— Ibid. ,.52, 1875. Kyuquot.— 

 Swan, MS., B. A. E. Ky-wk-aht.— Can. Ind. Aff., 

 188, 1883. Ky-yoh-quaht.— Sproat, Sav. Life, 308, 

 1868. 



Kyuwatkal {Kyu^-wdt-l-dl). A former 

 Yaquina village on the n. side of Yaquina 

 r., Oreg. — Dorsey in Jour. Am. Folk-lore, 

 III, 229, 1890. 



Laalaksentaio. A gens of the true Kwa- 

 kiutl, embracing the subdivisions Laal- 

 aksentaio, Alkunwea, and Hehametawe. 

 Laa'laqsEnt'aio.— Boas in 6th Rep. N. W. Tribes 

 Can., ,54, 1890. La'alaxsEnt'aio.— Boas in Rep. 

 Nat. Mus. 1895, 330, 1897. lalachsenfaio.— Boas 

 in Petermanns Mitt., pt. 5, 131, 1887." 



Labor, Division of. The common im- 

 pression that the Indian woman was a 

 mere slave and drudge for her husband 

 is an error due to ignorance of the Indian 

 division of labor in accordance with the 

 necessities of savage life. Briefly stated, 

 it was the man's business to provide meat 

 and skins from the forest and plain and 

 to protect the home from enemies, while 

 the woman attended to the household 

 duties of preparing the food, arranging 

 the house interior, and caring for the 

 children. The preparation of the food 

 implied also the principal work of culti- 

 vation among the agricultural tribes, with 

 the bringing of the wood and water, 

 while household work included the mak- 

 ing of pottery, basketry, and mats. The 

 men themselves frequently made their 

 own buckskin dress, and almost always 

 their ceremonial costume. Among the 

 Pueblos the greater part of the buckskin 

 clothing, including leggings and mocca- 

 sins, for both sexes, was made by the 

 men. The heavier part of the Pueblo 

 weaving also was the work of the men, 

 the women confining themselves for the 

 greater part to the production of belts 

 and other small pieces. Among the 

 Navaho, on the other hand, the weaving 

 work was about evenly divided. The 

 men fashioned their weapons, and the 

 articles of more laborious construction, 

 as stone hatchets, canoes, fish weirs, etc. 

 As tribes were constantly at war one with 

 another and the pursuit of game carried 

 the hunter into disputed territory, the 

 first business of every man was to be a 

 warrior, forever on the alert for dan- 

 ger. This condition left him very little 

 leisure for other i^ursuits excepting dur- 

 ing the season when his enemies also 

 were unable to travel. His wife, recog- 

 nizing this fact, took up her share of 

 the burden cheerfully, and would have 

 scorned as effeminate the husband who 

 took any other view of the situation. 

 Among the more sedentary and agricul- 

 tural tribes, where the procuring of food 

 did not necessitate hostile collision with 

 other tribes, the men usually did their 



fair share of the home work, laboring in 

 the fields together with the women. In 

 general, it may be said that the man as- 

 sumed the dangerous duty, the woman 

 the safer routine work. The frecjuent 

 sacrifice ordeals, intended to win the 

 favor of the gods of the tribe, were borne 

 almost entirely by the men, the part of 

 the women being chiefly that of applaud- 

 ing spectators. The woman remained 

 mistress of the home, and in spite of the 

 variety of her duties, the number of 

 women's games furnish testimony that 

 she enjoyed her leisure in her own way. 

 See Popular fallacies, Women, (j. m.) 



Labrets. Ornaments worn in holes that 

 are pierced through the lips. Cabeza de 

 Vaca notes of Indians of the Texas coast: 

 ' ' They likewise have the nether lip bored, 

 and within the same they carry a piece of 

 thin cane about half a finger thick." It 

 is quite certain that this custom prevailed 

 for some distance inland along the Colo- 

 rado r. of Texas and in neighboring re- 

 gions, while large labrets were also found 

 by Gushing among the remains on the 

 w'. coast of Florida. Outside of this re- 

 gion they were almost restricted to an 

 area in the N. W., the habitat of the 

 Aleut, Haida, Heiltsuk, Tlingit, Tsim- 

 shian, and Eskimo tribes, extending 

 from Dean inlet to Anderson r. on the 

 Arctic coast. They were also adopted 

 by some of the western Athapascans. 

 Here the lower lip alone was pierced. 

 While the southern tribes made a single 

 aperture in the middle of the lip, and 

 consequently used but one labret, the 

 Aleut and Eskimo usually punctured 

 a hole below each corner of the mouth 

 and inserted two. Moreover, among the 

 southern tribes the ornament was worn 

 only by women, while Aleut men used 

 it occasionally and Eskimo men more 

 and more generally, as one proceeded 

 northward, until beyond the Yukon the 

 use of labrets was confined to males. 

 Among the Haida, Heiltsuk, Tlingit, and 

 Tsimshian the labret was a mark of high 

 birth, supersedingin this respect the head- 

 flattening of the tribes living farther s. 

 The piercing was consequently done dur- 

 ing potlatches, a small aj^erture being 

 bored first, which was enlarged from year 

 to year until it sometimes became so great 

 that the lip jDroper was reduced to a nar- 

 row ribbon, which was liable to break, 

 and sometimes did. The labrets were 

 made of wood, stone, bone, or abalone 

 shell, often inlaid, and present two gen- 

 eral types, namely, a long piece inserted 

 into the lip at one end, or a round or 

 oval stud hollowed on each side and 

 protruding but slightly from the face. 

 George Dixon noted one of this latter 

 type that was 3| in. long by 2| in. broad. 

 The last labrets used were small plugs of 

 silver, and the custom has now been 



