In looking into this matter of labrets as connected or suspected as being in some way connected with the drinking reed, we should not expect to find the labret adhering very closely to the primitive form, because the labret, coming to be regarded more and more as an ornament, would allow greater and greater play to the fancy of the wearer or manufacturer, much the same as the crosses now worn by ladies, purely as matter of decoration, have become so thoroughly examples of dexterity in filagree work as to have lost the original form and significance as a declaration of faith. But it is a subject of surprise to find that the earlier writers persistently allude to the labrets in the lips of the Mexican deities, which probably were most tenacious of primitive forms, as being shaped like little reeds--"cañutillos." Herrera says of Tescatlipoca: "Que era el Dios de la Penitencia, i de los Jubileos ... Tenia Çarcillo de Oro, i Plata en el labio baxo, con un cañutillo cristalino, de un geme de largo."[240] The high priest, he says, was called topilçin, and in sacrificing human victims he wore "debaxo del labio, junto al medio de la barba, una pieça como cañutillo, de una piedra açul."[241] Father Acosta also speaks of the tube (canon) of crystal worn by Tezcatlipoca in the lower lip: "En la leure d'embas un petit canon de crystal, de la longueur d'un xeme ou demy pied."[242] Speaking of Quetzalcoatl Clavigero says: "From the under lip hung a crystal tube."[243] From Diego Duran's account of this "bezote" or labret it must have been hollow, as he says it contained a feather: "En el labio bajo tenia un bezote de un veril cristalino y en el estaba metida una pluma verde y otras veces azul."[244] In the Popul Vuh is to be found a myth which gives an account of the origin of labrets. It relates that two night watchers over the flowers in the garden of Xibalba had in some manner proved derelict in duty, and had their lips split as a punishment.[245] In Paraguay a tribe called the Chiriguanes, "se percent la levre inférieure & ils y attachent un petit Cilindre d'étain ou d'argent, ou de Resine transparente. Ce prétendu ornement s'appelle _Tembeta_."[246] FOOTNOTES: [1] Narrative of Captivity, Cincinnati, 1871, p. 141. [2] Padre Boscana, Chinigchinich, in Robinson's California, p. 261. [3] Origine de tous les Cultes, vol. 2, pt. 2, pp. 87, 88. [4] Diego Duran, vol. 3, pp. 237, 238. [5] Higgins, Anacalypsia, lib. 2, p. 77. [6] Balboa, Hist. du Pérou, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., vol. 15. [7] Ross, Fur Hunters, quoted by Spencer, Desc. Soc. [8] Max Müller, Science of Religion, p. 88. [9] Davis, Spanish Conq. of N. M., p. 98. [10] I Samuel, XII, 17, 18. [11] Cérémonies et Coûtumes, vol. 6, p. 75. [12] Everard im Thurn, Indians of Guiana, London, 1883, p. 334. [13] Tanner's Narrative, p. 390. [14] Diego Duran, lib. 3, cap. 3, p. 201. [15] Dorman, Primitive Superstitions, p. 384. [16] Spencer, Desc. Sociology.