INDIANS OF RIO COLORADO.—ORNAMENTS AND DRESS. 
33 
of a snake. They are less majestic in figure than are the Mojaves and Yumas ; their eyes are 
small; their hair is clipped in front, and usually gathered behind by a narrow hand, from 
which it hangs loosely down the hack. Their native dress consists simply of a bark petticoat 
for women, and a hreecli-cloth for men, each girded upon the loins by a cord. Infants are 
bound to a board, and have over their heads a cradle-like cover made of osier twigs. The 
hands are not confined, however,, and the constraint does not seem irksome to the child. 
Partly to this practice may be ascribed the erect and faultless form for which the Colorado 
Indians are distinguished. 
Plate 25 represents Mojaves and the style in which they paint themselves. Their pigments 
are ochre, clay, and probably charcoal, mingled with oil. Blue marks tattooed upon a woman’s 
chin denote that she is married. The skirt consists of two distinct articles ; the back part being- 
composed simply of a mass of strips of the inner bark of cottonwood, united to a string which 
passes around the hips, while the apron is of twisted cords made of vegetable fibres, in various 
colors, hanging loosely from the girdle, to which they are bound. A belt, like those of Pima 
manufacture, is also wound around the body. Both men and women delight in wearing upon 
their necks coils of wampum composed of shells cut into circular discs, with holes drilled through 
the centre, by which they are strung. Married women also frequently wear a single bivalve 
shell curiously wrought. Eagles’ feathers, tied to a lock of hair, are worn only by men. Nose- 
Plate 25. 
jewels designate a man of wealth and rank. The principal chiefs have elaborate feather head¬ 
dresses. The artist has hardly done justice to the precision with which this people trim and 
dress their hair. Mojaves, like Pimas, Maricopas, and Yumas, pay special attention to this part 
of their toilet, all cutting squarely to the eyebrows in front, and the men taking great pride in 
the length and smoothness of the plaits that fall down upon the back. Vermin are destroyed 
by matting the hair with clay, which is worn for two or three days. The head is then sub- 
5 i 
