Page:Voyages in the Northern Pacific - 1896.djvu/92

74 in a small plug of wood, which is exchanged each day for a larger, till they get a piece of wood in of an oval shape, about two inches long, an inch broad, and half an inch thick; this drags the lip down, and leaves the gums and teeth quite bare, and gives them a most disgusting appearance. Both men and women chew tobacco, of which the women in particular are very fond. Some of the natives in Chatham Straits squeeze their heads into a sugar-loaf shape, by means of binding it round with kelp or sea weed when they are young. They also use paint, and powder their hair with the down of geese or swans. They wear the hair long, but, on the death of a chief, cut it short round the head. They have their noses perforated with a large quill. The natives here are great warriors, and very hostile to the Russians, whom they often annoy by attacking their bodarkees; however, they do not always kill them, but are satisfied with running a spear through them and leaving them to their fate.