40b 



Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-18 



HAIR OF HEAD 



In men the hair seldom falls below the shoulders. It is worn in various ways, 

 sometimes clipped all over, sometimes not clipped at all, but allowed to hang 

 in a tangled mass. The majority wear a tonsure, the purpose being, according 

 to the natives themselves, to keep the head cool under the weight of the fur hood.^ 

 Two men stated that they personally wore their hair untrimmed because they 

 possessed rifles and were therefore men of importance in their community — 

 that is to say, it was sheer swagger on their part; but I saw other natives who 

 were not so fortunate wearing their hair untrimmed, while contrarywise some who 

 possess rifles were close-shorn. 



Women's hair is generally longer than men's, reaching well below the 

 shoulders, but seldom as far as the waist.^ It is parted in the middle and as a 

 rule has two long plaits hanging down in front of each ear, tied at the ends with 

 threads of sinew. Often, as in Hudson bay, a band of fur is wound spirally 

 around each plait; but the Copper Eskimos never attach a bone handle to it, 

 nor do they labour to make the band exhibit the alternate strips of dark and 

 white that Parry speaks of,* but use merely a strip of plain white fur cut in a 

 crescent from the belly of a summer-coated caribou. As these plaits are apt 

 to dangle annoyingly in front of the eyes as the woman moves about they are 

 generally tucked in the breast of the coat. In the Mackenzie delta, where similar 

 braids were formerly worn, the women nearly always coiled a portion of the hair 

 into a knob on top of the head; but this is rarely done by the Copper Eskimos, 

 and then only by women carrying children on their backs so that the infants 

 may have something to hold on to. Most women possess combs, but only the 

 younger ones make much use of them, and even they often use their fingers. 

 In both men and women the hair swarms with nits; it is an ofiice of friendship 

 to search a neighbour's head, incidentally popping the trophies into the mouth. 



Bushy eyebrows are very rare. Usually they are quite sparse, and in 

 consequence are apt to seem hghter in colour than the hair of the head, 

 although this is seldom the case; the eye-lashes are similarly short and scanty. 

 I have tabulated the variations in colour and quantity of the eyebrows on a 

 percentage basis, as was done with the hair of the head. 



EYEBROWS 



'Including hair that is wavy at the ends only. 



rr„ JTill^^H ■'S"'^ °! ^^^ Mackenzie delta and of Point Barrow, who also wore a tonsure in former times 

 gave each a different reason for the custom. See Murdoch, op. cit., p. 140. lormer times, 



also sttr tLn tha't ofthfmen!'^* ^* Ammassalik the hair of the women is very thick, and finer, but 



'Parry, W., Three Voyages for the Discovery of a North-West Passage, London, 1875, Vol. 3, p. 267. 



