e, of one piece. And about their ancles they also frequently
wear many folds of leathern thongs, or the sinews of animals twisted
to a considerable thickness.

Thus far of their ordinary dress and ornaments; but they have some
that seem to be used only on extraordinary occasions, either when they
exhibit themselves as strangers, in visits of ceremony, or when they
go to war. Amongst the first may be considered the skins of animals,
such as wolves or bears, tied on in the usual manner, but ornamented
at the edges with broad borders of fur, or of the woollen stuff
manufactured by them, ingeniously wrought with various figures. These
are worn either separately, or over their own common garments. On
such occasions, the most common head-dress is a quantity of withe, or
half-beaten bark, wrapped about the head, which, at the same time, has
various large feathers, particularly those of eagles, stuck in it,
or is entirely covered, or we may say, powdered with small white
feathers. The face, at the same time, is variously painted, having its
upper and lower parts of different colours, the strokes appearing like
fresh gashes, or it is besmeared with a kind of tallow, mixed with
paint, which is afterward formed into a great variety of regular
figures, and appears like carved work. Sometimes, again, the hair is
separated into small parcels, which are tied at intervals of about two
inches, to the end, with thread, and others tie it together behind,
after our manner, and stick branches of the _cypressus thyoides_ in
it. Thus dressed, they have a truly savage and incongruous appearance,
but this is much heightened when they assume, what may be called,
their monstrous decorations. These consist of an endless variety of
carved wood masks or vizors, applied on the face, or to the upper part
of the head or forehead. Some of these resemble human faces, furnished
with hair, beards, and eye-brows; others, the heads of birds,
particularly of eagles and quebrantahuessos, and many, the heads of
land and sea-animals, such as wolves, deer, and porpoises, and others.
But, in general, these representations much exceed the natural size,
and they are painted, and often strewed with pieces of the foliaceous
_mica_, which makes them glitter, and, serves to augment their
enormous deformity. They even exceed this sometimes, and fix on the
same part of the head large pieces of carved work, resembling the
prow of a canoe, painted in the same manner, and pr