Arctic Orwise of the U.S. 8. Thetis in 1889. 197 
or @ whetstone, until they finally reach a level too low for 
mechanical purposes. 
Between sixteen and twenty-two years of age the male natives 
have their lips pierced under each corner of the mouth for 
labrets.* The incision is made and at first sharp-pointed pieces 
of ivory are put in; when the wound heals the hole is grad- 
ually stretched by inserting larger labrets until half an inch in 
diameter is reached. The poorer natives wear labrets made of 
coal, walrus ivory, common gravel, and glass stoppers which they 
obtain from ships and adapt to this use. The stopper of a 
Worcestershire sauce bottle is very useful for the purpose. 'The 
-rieher ones have agate labrets, the most valued one, however, 
consisting of a white porcelain-like disk 14 inches wide, in the 
center of which is mounted a turquoise nut, hemispherical in 
shape, nearly an inch wide; fastened with a spruce gum obtained 
from the interior. We could not ascertain where the turquoise 
‘or porcelain-like disk was obtained. The Eskimos say they have 
always been in the country, and sell them only with the greatest 
reluctance. 
Tattoomg is general among the women, and is apparently a 
custom of great antiquity. At the age of six one narrow line 
is drawn down the center of the chin from the lower lip down- 
ward, powdered charcoal being used as coloring matter. At 
twelve years the line is broadened to half an inch, and a narrow 
line made parallel to it on each side. But I will not detain you 
by giving other particulars. 
On the 20th of September the Thetis left Point Hope for the 
south, the rugged season of the Arctic ocean having fully set in. 
Strong winds and gales from the northeast had compelled us to 
move from the northern to the southern side of Point Hope, where 
better protection and anchorage had been found. On the 21st 
of September we passed out of the Arctic ocean and through 
Bering Strait, reaching Ounalaska again on the 26th of 
September. After remaining there until the beginning of 
October the ship returned to Sitka, and after a prolonged stay 
in the waters of southeastern Alaska we finally reached the 
Golden gate of San Francisco, shortly after midnight on the 
7th of December. 
* Labrets is the name used along the coast for the lip-ornaments 
worn by the natives. 
