Page:Across the sub-Arctics of Canada (1897).djvu/145

 *thing like a beaver's tail, just reaching to the ground behind. The back of the over-skirt is made very full, so as to form a sort of bag, in which the mothers carry their children. Like a man's jacket, it is provided with a hood, but of much larger size, so as to afford shelter for both mother and child. The women are very fond of decorating their dresses with beads or other ornaments, and all their garments are made with great neatness.

Like many other savage people, the Eskimos, and especially the women, tattoo extensively. They do not all thus adorn themselves, but many of them have their faces, necks, arms or hands all figured over in such a way as to give them a wild and savage appearance.

Many of the ladies, when in full dress, wear head-*bands, usually made of polished brass or iron, over their foreheads. These are held in position by being tied with a cord behind the head.

A stranger custom still is that of wearing stones in the cheeks, upon each side of the mouth. This practice is not universal with the Eskimos, but, as far as my knowledge extends, it is limited to those inhabiting the Mackenzie River district. The natives of this region have the reputation of being a bad lot, and it is said that when they are heard to rattle their cheek-stones against their teeth it is time to be on the look-out. The stones are cut in the shape of large shirt-studs, and are let through the cheeks by cutting holes for them.

As to the origin of the Eskimo people, very little is known, but the most probable theory accounting for their existence on this continent is that they were originally Mongolians, and at some very early date crossed over the