87 



carvings, as pendants to the bead necklaces. We found no application of 

 shell to purposes of use or ornament. This may be partly explained by 

 the dull colors and thin textui-e of most of the Aleutian shells. There are 

 a few, however, which would seem to have been quite suitable, but we 

 found no evidences of their use. 



In some of the latest prehistoric burial-places, we found, beside other 

 carvings, masks, toys, and once a rude wooden doll, but with one exception 

 we have found no imitations of the human form or face in tlie kitchen- 

 heaps. This exception was a small and very artistic ivory carving, perhaps 

 once lashed to the peak of a visor, or to some other article, 

 of which the annexed figure is a representation. It does 

 not, however, give a sufficiently clear idea of the delicacy 

 of the carving, which is really exceptional. The face has 

 the usual Innuit characteristics, and four little holes at the 

 sides were evidently for securing the lashings. The back 

 is qiiite concave, as if it had been fitted to some small 

 cylindrical object. The upper part is carved like the beak 

 icosn (738).-Bono carv. of ft bird. The object is too slight to have been any kind 



ing from the uppermost 



uaniraaiian stratum, Port of utcusil, aud probably was mado for ornament alone. 



Miillcr, Aliaska Peninsula, 



j. It indicates superior ability in the carver, and a great 



advance on the usual resthetic condition of the Innuit of those times. 



In a general way, the love of ornament was exhibited in the better 

 finish and neater proportions of all utensils and weapons, and in the model 

 of the bidarka, as we have elsewhere noted in the course of this j)aper. 



The custom of piercing the flesh in order to attach an ornament or 

 appendage to the person is very ancient and widely spread. It would be 

 assuming too much to infer any necessary connection between the instances 

 of occurrence of this practice in widely-separated regions. It probably 

 took its origin in some of the dark and gloomy superstitions of early 

 barbarism, akin to those which now impel some savages to lacerate their 

 bodies to appease evil spirits or please their fetishes. This, by siirvival, 

 has not improbably grown into a custom in which ornamentation, so- 

 called, is the only motive, and which still flourishes in civilized nations. 

 The thinner portions of the body, such as the lobe of the external ear, the 



