. Bulletin. Ethnology. HAIR dressing; western ESKIMO MAN. (.Murdoch) teaching was set forth that this lock rep- resents the life of the child, now placed wholly in the control of the mysterious and supernatural power that alone could will his death. The braided lock worn thereafter was asign of thisdeuication and belief, and represented the man's life. On it hewore the ornaments that marked his achievements and honors, and for any- one to touch lightl}' this loi'k was re- garded as a grave insult. As a war trophy the scalp-lock had a douljle meaning. It indicated the act of the supernatural po
. Bulletin. Ethnology. HAIR dressing; western ESKIMO MAN. (.Murdoch) teaching was set forth that this lock rep- resents the life of the child, now placed wholly in the control of the mysterious and supernatural power that alone could will his death. The braided lock worn thereafter was asign of thisdeuication and belief, and represented the man's life. On it hewore the ornaments that marked his achievements and honors, and for any- one to touch lightl}' this loi'k was re- garded as a grave insult. As a war trophy the scalp-lock had a douljle meaning. It indicated the act of the supernatural power that had decreed the death of the man, and it served as tan- gible proof of the warrior's prow- L'"' ""^^^^K^W V ess in wresting it Y-'."" "^^^mi'-K V f'''^"! the enemy. Thescalper, how- ever, was not al- ways the killer or the tirst striker. The latter had the chief credit, and frequently left others to do the killing and scalping. With the Eastern or timber tribes, the scalper was usually the killer, but this was not so often the case among the Plains Indians. The scalp was frequently left on the battle ground as a sacrifice. Among the Dakota a bit of the captured scalp-lock was i)reservedforayear, during which period the spirit was supposed to linger near; then, when the great death feast was held, the lock was destroyed and the spirit was freed thereby from its earthly ties (see Scalp). There are many beliefs connected with the hair, all of which are interwoven with the idea that it is mys- teriously connected with a person's life and fortune. One can be bewitched ancf made subservient to the will of a person who be- comes possessed of a bit of his hair; conse- quently combings are usually carefully burned. Accordingto Hrdlicka the Pima, after killing an Apache, purified them- selves with smoke from the burnt hair of the victim. Personal joy or grief was manifested by the style of dressing the hair (see Mournnuj). Young men often spend
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