270 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1888. 



in Fig. 51, Plate xiv, which also shows the mask and helmet in place. 

 The parts are very heavy aud clumsy, and the most that can be said in 

 their favor is that they protected the vital parts from injury. 



With the introduction of iron and of fire-arms the Tlingit adopted 

 a new form of protection, consisting of a buckskin strip around the 

 neck, with iron plates attached pendant down the breast.* 



Helmets and head-dresses. — The chief's ceremonial head-dress has 

 already been described, and is illustrated in Fig. 35, Plate x. In Plate 

 XIII a variety of helmets is shown. Fig. 41 represents a wolfs head, 

 the wearer or owner belonging to the Wolf totem. It is so light that it 

 could not have served as a protection of any kind, and hence is cer- 

 emonial in its nature. Fig. 42 is a thick massive helmet similar to the 

 one illustrated in Plate xiv, Fig. 47. Fig. 44 represents the Bear 

 totem, while Fig. 45 is carved in representation of the Beaver. On the 

 rim of the latter four copper plates or shields are painted. These two 

 helmets (Figs. 44 and 45) are similar in shape to the grass hat shown 

 in Fig. 40, being that of an oblique truncated cone surmounted by a tall 

 cylinder, and evidently represent the ancient form of helmet worn by 

 the chiefs as seen in the carved columns and other old-time pictographs. 

 They are now worn only in the ceremonial dances, the two illustrated 

 being of light cedar wood and of rather recent make. Another variety 

 of head dress is a ring of shredded cedar bark, twisted into a rope, 

 stained dull red with the juice of the bark of the alder, and made into 

 a circular grommet like a crown Plate xviii. Some of these are orna- 

 mented with bows, rosettes, and tassels of the same material, the finest 

 and most elaborate being found amongst the Haida, although clearly 

 borrowed or copied in design from those of the Tsimshian and Kwakiutl. 

 With the latter these are only worn in the winter religious ceremonies, 

 and their use is considered improper on any other occasions, whereas 

 the Haida wear them in any of their dances without the peculiar signi- 

 ficance attached to them by other tribes. 



Ifasfcs.— What has been said in a general way of helmets and head- 

 dresses is equally true of masks, with the addition that the latter are 

 found even in much greater variety and more ingenuity is displayed in 

 constructing them. The writer has endeavored to trace the origin of the 

 custom of wearing masks in ceremonies to the original practice of wear- 

 ing them in war as a protection. In this view, the simplest form is 

 that shown in Figs. 48 and 50, Plate xiv, the former being a side and 

 the latter a top view. The top rim is thinner than the lower part, and 

 has several grooves or peep-holes cut in it to enable the wearer to see 

 through, as shown in the plate. The front is carved or painted with 

 the totemic representation of the owner. Fig. 50 shows a projection 

 on the inner side (front), which consists of a leather becket or eyelet, 

 covered with a wrapping of grass or cedar bark, and let through the 

 front of the mask, being secured by a knot outside. This goes in the 



* Lisiansky (1805), Voyage, p. 238, 



