A General History of the Fur Trade, 



65 



They are of a moderate stature, well proportioned, and 

 of great activity. Examples of deformity are seldom to be 

 seen among them. Their complection is of a copper-colour, 

 and their hair black, which is common to all the natives of 

 North America. It is cut in various forms, according to 

 the fancy of the several tribes, and by some is left in the 

 long, lank, flow of nature. They very generally extract 

 their beards, and both sexes manifest a disposition to pluck 

 the hair from every part of the body and limbs. Their eyes 

 are black, keen, and penetrating ; their countenance open and 

 agreeable, and it is a principal object of their vanity to give 

 every possible decoration to their persons. A material ar- 

 ticle in their toilettes is vermilion, which they contrast with 

 their native blue, white, and brown earths, to which char- 

 coal is frequently added. 



Their dress is at once simple and commodious. It con- 

 sists of tight leggins, reaching near the hip : a strip of cloth 

 or leather, called assian, about a foot wide, and five feet 

 long, whose ends are drawn inwards, and hang behind and 

 before, over a belt tied round the waist for that purpose : a 

 close vest or shirt reaching down to the former garment, 

 and cinctured with a broad strip of parchment fastened with 

 thongs behind ; and a cap for the head, consisting of a piece 

 of fur, or small skin, with the brush of the animal as a sus- 

 pended ornament : a kind of robe is thrown occasionallylover 

 the whole of the dress, and serves both night and day.' — 

 These articles, with the addition of shoes and mittens, con- 

 stitute the variety of their apparel. The materials vary ac- 

 cording to the season, and consist of dressed moose-skin, 

 beaver prepared with the fur, or European woollens. The 

 leather is neatly painted, and fancifully worked in some 

 parts with porcupine quills, and moose-deer hair : the shirts 

 and leggins are also adorned with fringe arid tassels ; nor 

 are the shoes and mittens without somewhat of appropriate 

 decoration, and worked with a considerable degree of skill 

 and taste. These habiliments are put on, however, as fan- 

 cy or convenience suggests ; and they will sometimes pro- 

 ceed to the chase in the severest frost, covered only with the 

 slightest of them. Their head-dresses are composed of the 

 feathers of the swan, the eagle, and other birds. The teeth, 

 horns, and claws of different animals, are also the occasional 

 ornaments of the head and neck. Their hair, however ar- 

 ranged, is always besmeared with grease. The making of 

 every article of dress is a female occupation ; and the wo- 



