Another fashion among the women of some tribes was the piercing of the
lower lip for the wearing of a plug as an ornament. Thus, when a little
girl among the Haida was twelve or thirteen years old, her aunt or
grandmother took her to some quiet place along the seashore; there she
pierced a little hole in the lower lip of the child, using a bit of sharp
shell or stone. To keep the hole from closing when it healed, a bit of
grass stalk was put into it. For a few days the place was sore, but it
soon got well. The bit of stalk was then removed, and a little peg of wood
put in. Later a larger peg or plug was inserted. When the girl had grown
to be an old woman, she wore a large plug in her lower lip, which would
hold it out flat almost like a shelf.
[Illustration.]