1887] Recent Literature. 733 
water-fowl, while the feathers that vane the arrows used to slay 
land creatures are procured only from land birds. In some 
localities the feathers of the raven form an exception. Those 
projectiles which are to be cast by the hand alone never have 
feather-vanes attached to them, and in many localities the 
feathering is discarded on the shafts thrown by the hand-board. 
_ In regard to the supposition that the custom of wearing labrets 
in the lip of the Eskimo is due to and derived from the Indians 
(Thlinkets) dwelling south of them, this is a conclusion based 
upon an erroneous conception of the facts in the case. 
That the custom of wearing labrets, or lip-studs, is fast disap- 
pearing among the Eskimo is not a remarkable thing in itself. 
=- An almost entire revolution in customs and manners of far 
_ sast, and 
_ &m Eskimo the | 
: ore of tobacco, for the stud must be removed, and this per- 
— sl Saliva to flow from the orifice. This flow freezes in 
| Sammamentation h 
ou hes ¢ SS in 
: to prove that 
. greater significance is not uncommon among nations or peoples 
and in some localities has almost disappeared; yet one of the 
te profusely tattooed individuals the writer ever saw was an 
i ; 
were unmarked by tattooing. ‘This remarkable instance was due 
y to the fancy of the individual performing that operation 
"pon a subject who had no will in the matter, and for that reason 
‘d not be taken into sufficient consideration to forma theory 
Or a generalization on. Yet how unfortunate for science if an 
exploring expedition had touched at a locality where this woman 
spa husband had happened to be the only ones of the Innuit 
cuss Slon seen and she be the subject of an elaborate dis- 
~ssion, which a fertile mind would generalize into a universal 
Custom | 
T 
° return to the custom of wearing the labret, or lip-stud. It 
Seg s just as probable that the practice of perforating the lip and 
mserting a Piece of stone, bone, or ivory had its origin in the 
that they should be the first to discard it and the west- 
ast to relinquish it. It is a well-recognized fact 
those people that the labret. seriously interferes with the 
d results disastrously to the person. Hence the love ° 
manr: as been subordinated to the gratification of an 
aired habit of a character originating but recently. The very 
the Mackenzie region of wearing the lip-stud tends 
the lack of intercommunication between the widely- — 
People termed Eskimo has served to perpetuate the 
the Thlinket should originate a custom now adopted by 
XXL—no, 8, 
