. British North America: I. The far West, the home of the Salish and Déné . ineage,when the first anniversary of her reaching womanhoodcame round, her parents would give a feast at which,with befitting ceremonies, another kind of head-dressin the form of a diadem would be placed upon herhead, and the earlier one discarded. This secondhead-dress was made of skin and dentalium shells. With regard to tattooing, the face was the chief partof the body thus adorned. Upon this, in conventionaloutlines, figures of birds, fishes, plants, crosses, andother objects were often marked, but the commoneststy
. British North America: I. The far West, the home of the Salish and Déné . ineage,when the first anniversary of her reaching womanhoodcame round, her parents would give a feast at which,with befitting ceremonies, another kind of head-dressin the form of a diadem would be placed upon herhead, and the earlier one discarded. This secondhead-dress was made of skin and dentalium shells. With regard to tattooing, the face was the chief partof the body thus adorned. Upon this, in conventionaloutlines, figures of birds, fishes, plants, crosses, andother objects were often marked, but the commoneststyle of facial tattooing consisted of lines, single andparallel, on the chin, the cheeks, the temples or fore-head, or radiating from the corners of the mouth asamong the Salish. The forearms were also a commonpart of the body tattooed. The markings here weregenerally symbolical of the totem or manitou of theindividual wearing them, their presence on his personbeing supposed to bring him into close and mysteriousrelationship with his spiritual guardian. Sometimes, Plate i8. Dene Medicine-men in Ceremonial Costume Photo by C. VV. Mathers, Vancouver, To face page 85 DRESS AND PERSONAL ADORNMENT 85 however, these tattoo marks on the arms and also onthe legs were rather amuletic than ornamental ortotemic in character, being placed there chiefly as aspecific against certain bodily ailments, such as rheu-matism or premature weakness of the limbs, the tattoo marks had this significance theyconsisted simply of two transverse lines which werecommonly tattooed on the persons of young men bypubescent girls. The breast was also occasionally tattooed, the figuresmarked here being generally totemic in of the most highly prized of these was the symbolof the grizzly bear. To have this tattooed upon aperson involved great expense and outlay; manygifts and ceremonial banquets being necessary forits accomplishment. Those who could display thissymbol were highly regarde
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