86 BRITISH COLUMBIA.

as a means of hardening their bodies, and references are made in tales to the
careful bathing of their babies by mothers with a similar object. Sweat-houses
were also used in the Interior for cleansing as well as ceremonial purposes.
Bathing played its part in initiation ceremonies or before the undertaking of some
test of courage, such as the hunting of whales by the Nootkan; but the custom
of freely smearing the person with more or less rancid fat failitated against what
to modern ideas represents cleanliness.

ELK-HIDE ARMOUR.

In conclusion, reference must be made to the general use in war of a form of
armour consisting of an outer garment of double or triple elk or moose hide. This
was worn over a kind of cuirass made of thin slats of wood, about 1 inch wide,
laced together with leather thongs; or of a corresponding arrangement made of
four boards, 1% inches thick, two in front and two at the back, connected by
buckskin lacings. The outer garment of hide was usually painted in red, yellow,
or black, the designs being supposed to depict the dreams of the warrior. Thick
elk-hide caps were worn to protect the head, and sometimes wooden helmets
carved or painted with the crest of the wearer. (Plate XXVII., Fig. 27.)