beads in the ears, or a
skin band set with large, tastefully arranged beads or a leather
band with some large beads on the brow. The leather band they will
not willingly part with, and a woman told us that the beads in it
indicate the number of enemies the wearer has killed. I am, however,
quite certain that this was only an empty boast. Probably our
informant referred to a tradition handed down from former warlike
periods to the present time, and thus we have here only a Chukch
form of the boasting about martial feats common even among civilised
nations.

To the dress of the men there belongs further a screen for the eyes,
which is often beautifully ornamented with beads and silver mounting.
This screen is worn especially in spring as a protection from the strong
sunlight reflected from the snow-plains. At this season of the year
snow-blindness is very common, but notwithstanding this snow-spectacles
of the kind which the Eskimo and even the Samoyeds use are unknown here.

The men are not tattooed, but have sometimes a black or red cross
painted on the cheek. They wear the hair cut close to the root, with
the exception of a short tuft right on the crown of the head and a
short fringe above the brow. The women have long hair, parted right
in the middle, and plaited along with strings of beads into plaits
which hang down by the ears. They are generally tattooed on the
face, sometimes also on the arms or other parts of the body. The
tattooing is done by degrees, possibly certain lines are first made
at marriage.

The dress of the women, like that of the men, is double during winter.
The outer _pesk_, which is longer and wider than the man's, passes
downwards into a sort of very wide trousers. The sleeves too are
exceedingly wide, so that the arm may easily be drawn in and stuck out.
Under the outer _pesk_ there is an inner _pesk_, or skin-shirt, and
under them a pair of very short trousers is worn. Where the outer _pesk_
ends the _moccassins_ begin. At the neck the _pesk_ is much cut away, so
that a part of the back is bare. I have seen girls go with the upper
part of the back exposed in this way even in a cold of -30 deg. or -40 deg.. The
stockings have the hair inwards, they are bordered with dog-skin, and go
to the knees. The moccasins, chin-covers, hoods, and neckerchiefs differ
little from the corresponding articles of men's dress The woman's dress
is in general more ornamented than the man's, and the skins used