190 



EXPLORATIONS IN THE FAR NORTH 



Buttons. A few buttons of native manufacture are still in 

 use. Specimen No. 10,908 will serve as a type. It is of walrus 

 ivory, 1. 75 inches in length. It is carved in the form of a whale 

 with four transverse lines across the outer face. There is a 

 slight projection on the back under which a hole has been 

 drilled for the sinew thread. 



Labrets. The majority of the men among the American Es- 

 kimos west of Cape Bathurst wear these alleged ornaments. 

 While at McPherson my attention was attracted to one old 

 man, with long snow-white hair, who had his face disfigured 

 with an unusually large pair of marble labrets. The first man 

 whom we met west of the Mackenzie wore a large, very con- 

 spicuous labret with half of a large blue bead attached to the 

 marble flange and surrounded by a disk of walrus ivory 1.5 

 inches in diameter. The practice seems to be falling into disfa- 

 vor at Herschel Island, where several of the young men did not 

 have their lips pierced; others wore but one labret, or a part of 

 the time none. Several wore labrets made of glass stoppers, 

 with the heads ground down for flanges. Individuals wearing 

 one plug-shaped labret seemed to delight in shifting it with the 

 tongue from one side of the mouth to the other. 



Specimen No. 11,028 is of the commonest type. It is of pol- 

 ished marble with a rounded head 0.7 inch in diameter; the 

 flange is 1 inch long and 0.6 inch wide; it is curved slightly to 

 fit the jaw. This labret, purchased from the wearer, is almost 

 identical in size and shape with a very old pair from a grave at 

 Stokes' Point. 



Another specimen, No. 11,031, resembles the ancient single 

 labrets which are said to have been worn at Point Barrow. It 

 is of steatite, 2.2 inches long by 0.9 wide and 0.5 inch thick. 1 



Pipes. The collection contains eleven pipes of walrus ivory 

 and two with wooden stems. Those of ivory were probably 

 made for sale, as they habitually use pipes with metal or stone 

 bowls. A pipe from the Anderson River, No. 10,858, will 

 serve as a typical specimen. The stem is of birch wood, 12.5 

 inches long, 1.1 in its greatest diameter and diamond-shaped in 

 section. It is of two pieces, one upon the other, firmly lashed 

 together with thong, which also secures the foot of the bowl. 

 There is no mouthpiece or picker. The bowl is of iron, 1.5 



1 See Murdoch, John, Ninth Ann. Rej>. Bur. of Et/i., p. 143. 



