8 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 8o 



stance used for this purpose by those of Nootka. The sept it in of the 

 nose is also perforated, through which they frequently thrust the 

 quill-feathers of small birds, or little bending- ornaments, made of the 

 above shelly substance, strung on a stilif string or cord, three or four 

 inches long, which give them a truly grotesque appearance. But the 

 most uncommon and unsightly ornamental fashion, adopted by some 

 of both sexes, is their having the under-lip slit, or cut, quite through, 



in the direction of the mouth, a little below the swelling part 



In this artificial mouth they stick a fiat, narrow ornament, made chiefly 

 out of a solid shell or bone, cut into little narrow pieces, like small 

 teeth, almost down to the base or thickest part, which has a small 

 projecting bit at each end that supports it when put into the divided 

 lip; the cut part then appearing outward. ( )thers have the lower lip 

 only perforated into separate holes ; and then the ornament consists 

 of as many distinct shelly studs, whose i)oints are pushed through 

 these holes, and their heads appear within the lip, as another row of 

 teeth immediately under their own." These curious ornaments are 

 clearlv shown in the two sketches l)v W'eblier. 



