Virginia : rebirth of the Old Dominion

VIRGINIA 47appearance was further increased by the insertion in his earsof strings, from which dangled bunches of hawklegs, claws ofsquirrels, raccoons, and bears, spurs of turkeys, clusters of musselpearls, or small plates of copper.But what was far more singular were the live green snakes,which, secured by the same string, were permitted to writhe andtwist in every direction around his already strangely decoratedhead.The women were more conservative in their ornaments.Thefavorite wives of Powhatan wore around their necks triple circletsof mussel pearls, while long ropes of the same beautifularticles were drawn over their shoulders and under their rightarms. They also encircled their waists with highly decorativebracelets made of copper and pearl.The ingenuity of the savages in adorning their persons wasillustrated in their use of both oil and paint. These two materialswere obtained from natural objects, and formed a very importantpart of their toilet. The paint, which was red, black or yellowin color, was supposed, in times of war, to increase the fiercenessof the warrior's general aspect. It is not improbable, however,that the oil was considered to be effective in balking the mosquito,which was one of the pests of the marshy and swampyregions. But it too, like the red paint, fulfilled an ornamentalpurpose. It was the custom of the members of both sexes tosmear the surface of the trunk of their bodies with oil, and thenattach to it the down of blue birds, red birds, and white herons,which, thus combined, produced a general coloring that was atonce brilliant and varied. A village assemblage decorated inthis manner must have appeared to be at once wild and picturesque.The women were not satisfied with adornments that couldbe put on or dropped at will. The art of tattooing was not carriedas far in aboriginal Virginia as in the South Seas, but itwas used with sufficient skill to excite the admiration of the firstvoyagers. The portions of the female body selected for the dec-