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The eyes vary from dark brown to medium brown, and occasionally
show the epicanthic fold. The hair is black, and either straight or with
low waves. Formerly men as well as women often parted it in the middle
and sometimes plaited it into two braids. The southern Sekani state that
after the establishment of the trading posts on McLeod lake some of the
men shaved the crown of the head and painted it with red ochre;! but the
Sekani of the Finlay River basin claim that this practice was restricted
to old women. The Tahltan painted only the parting of the hair with red
ochre, according to some notes by the late James Teit, and the Carrier
seem not to have painted the head at all. At the present time the men
trim their hair with scissors, and either eradicate their beards, as in
Mackenzie’s day, or shave with European razors; in any case their beards
are scanty. The women still part the hair in the middle, but usually leave
it unbraided, except the women of the Long Grass band, who, being in
close contact with the Gitksan and Tahltan Indians, pay more attention
to its dressing and braid it with multi-coloured ribbons. Short hair being
considered a disgrace except in widows, the girls of this band rub their
heads with a preparation of roasted wild celery or parsnip (Heraclewm
lanatum) mixed with fat taken from the head of the mountain sheep. The
Gitksan Indians of upper Skeena river, and the neighbouring Carrier, use
the same preparation, but with bear fat substituted for mountain sheep
fat; they claim it not ouly foments the growth of the hair, but lightens its
colour.

DRESS

Both sexes have long since adopted Eurevean clothing, and retain of
their old dress only the moccasins and mittens. Mackenzie describes the
ancient costume as follows:

“Their dress consists of robes made of the skins of the beaver, the
ground hog, and the reindeer, dressed in the hair, and of the mooseskin
without it. All of them are ornamented with a fringe, while some of them
have tassels hanging down the seams; those of the ground hog are
decorated on the fur side with the tails of the animals, which they do not
separate from them. Their garments they tie over the shoulders, and
fasten them around the middle with a belt of green skin, which is as stiff
as horn. Their leggins are long, and, if they were topped with a waist-
band, might be called trowsers; they, as well as their shoes, are made of
dressed moose, elk, or reindeer skin. The organs of generation they leave
uncovered.

“The women differ little in their dress from the men, except in the
addition of an apron, which is fastened round the waist, and hangs down
to the knees.

“They have a brown kind of earth in great abundance, with which
they rub their clothes, not only for ornament but utility, as it prevents
the leather from becoming hard after it has been wetted.”

1 The Carrier report the same practice among the Beaver Indians.