Page:Voyages in the Northern Pacific - 1896.djvu/79

Rh houses, where they are soon smoked and laid by for use. They are cured without salt, which is never used. The Indian women are complete drudges, yet they seem to work cheerfully. They have a root here like the potato, called by the natives wapitoe; it grows chiefly in swampy ground, and is collected in September.

The men are very stout and hardy; their height from five feet to five feet eight inches, well proportioned, and with very little beard. They wear a dress made of the skins of the wood-rat, sewed neatly together and thrown over the shoulders; this garment is the same in both sexes (with the addition of a petticoat, which the women wear.) It goes under the right arm and above the left, where it fastens with a wooden skewer, being open down the side, so that it leaves both arms at liberty for the use of their weapons. Their ears are perforated in many parts, and small bits of leather fastened in, from which hang shells in shape not much dissimilar to a game cock's spur, and about one inch in length. These shells are called hiaqua. The nose is also perforated, from which beads are suspended; and sometimes a large goose or swan's quill is pushed through. They anoint their bodies with a sort of red ochre and seal oil; and are very expert in the use of the bow, bludgeon, and dagger. Their bows are made of pine, about four feet long, and, in the middle, two inches broad, tapering off towards each end. The sinew of the elk is laid on the back of the bow, which bends it the contrary way and strengthens it; the string is also made of the