Their dress, upon the whole, is convenient, and would, by no means be inelegant, were it kept clean.  But as they rub their bodies constantly over with a red paint, of a clayey or coarse ochry substance, mixed with oil, their garments, by this means, contract a rancid offensive smell, and a greasy nastiness; so that they make a very wretched dirty appearance, and what is still worse, their heads and their garments swarm with vermin, which, so depraved is their taste for cleanliness, we used to see them pick off with great composure and eat.

Though their bodies are always covered with red paint, their faces are often stained with a black, a brighter red, or a white colour, by way of ornament.  The last of these gives them a ghastly, disgusting aspect.  They also strew the brown martial mica upon the paint, which makes it glitter.  The ears of many of them are perforated in the lobe, where they make a pretty large hole, and two others higher up on the outer edge.  In these holes they hang bits of bone, quills fixed upon a leathern thong, small shells, bunches of woollen tassels, or pieces of thin copper, which our beads could never supplant.  The septum of the nose, in many, is also perforated, through which they draw a piece of soft cord; and others wear, at the same place, small thin pieces of iron, brass, or copper, shaped almost like a horse-shoe, the narrow opening of which receives the septum, so as that the two points may gently pinch it, and the ornament thus hangs over the upper lip.  The rings of our brass buttons, which they eagerly purchased, were appropriated to this use.  About their wrists they wore bracelets or bunches of white bugle beads, made of a conic shelly substance, bunches of thongs, with tassels, or a broad black shining horny substance, 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