84 THE GREAT DENE RACE.

source of supply of these precious shells, that is the Pacific Ocean, the na-
tives contented themselves with a bare wooden peg or a goose quill placed
in a similar position.

Repulsive as these would-be ornaments seem to us, it is a well known
fact that they really appeal to the primitive mind. We see them in use among
several uncivilized divisions of mankind as, for instance,
the aboriginal Australians and many others. At times y aa
these were exchanged among the western Dénés with
haliotis crescents (fig. 7) inserted in the septum with 3

> F le, 1

the cusps pendant. Rings of the same material, of cop-
per, of horn, or later or silver were also worn as among the ancient Peru-
vians and some African tribes. Cruciform nose-pendants, such as herewith
represented (fig. 8), were also fairly common. They
were held in position by pressing the forepart of the
septum through the cusps until the hole therein was
reached.

Both crescentic and circular nose-pendants sur-
vived in the north the elongated ornament previously
mentioned. Indeed from one of Thomas Simpson’s
remark, a person would infer that the latter enjoyed but
an ephemeral vogue there. He says that “this foolish
fancy originated in [the Loucheux] having seen some of these shells with
one of the half-breed women’”’?.

Non-Ceremonial Body Ornaments.

To these face ornaments one of the northern tribes, the Babine, still
added the labret, which is so well known to the sociologists familiar with
the North Pacific aboriginal races. In the words of W. H. Dall, this is in
northwest America “a plug, stud, or variously shaped button, made from va-
rious materials, which is inserted at or about the age of puberty through a
hole or holes pierced in the thinner portions of the face about the mouth.
Usually after the first operation has been performed, and the original slender
pin inserted, the latter is replaced from time to time by a larger one, and
the perforation thus mechanically stretched and in the course of time per-
manently enlarged” 2.

As regards the nature, mode and time of insertion, these words are every
way applicable to the labrets of the Babines. Only, these were invariably
restricted to the lower lip; none were ever worn on either side of the mouth
as among the Eskimos. When they had reached the maximum size which

* “Narrative of the Discoveries and the North Coast of America”, p. 190.
* “Masks and Labrets”, Third Ann. Rep. Bur. of Ethnol., pp. 77—78.