236 TRAVELS THROUGH LOWER CANADA: 
On their wrists the women wear silver brace¬ 
lets when they can procure them ; they also 
wear silver ear-rings; the latter are in general 
of a very small size ; but it is not merely one 
pair which they wear, but several. To admit 
them, they bore a number of holes in their earn, 
sometimes entirely round the edges. The men 
wear ear-rings likewise, but of a sort totally 
different from those worn by thewmmen; they 
mostly consist of round flat ihin pieces of sil¬ 
ver, about the size of a dollar, perforated with 
holes in different patterns; others, however, 
equally large, are made in a triangular form. 
Some of the tribes are very select in the choice 
of the pattern, and w ill not wear any but the 
one sort of pendants! Instead of boring their 
ears, the men slit them along the outward edge 
from top to bottom, and a3 soon as the gash is 
healed, hang heavy weights to them, in order 
io stretch the rim thus separated as low down 
as possible. Some of them are so successful in 
this bperatio.n, that they contrive to draw the 
rims of the ear in form of a bow, down to their 
very shoulders, and their large ear-rings hang 
dangling on their breasts. To prevent the rim 
th*:s extended from breaking, they bind it with 
brass wire; however, I observed that there was 
Bol one in six that had his ears perfect; the 
least touch, indeed, is sufficient to break the 
ifein, and it would be most wonderful if they 
