Many Amerinds, especially the men, wore, as before mentioned, nothing whatever in mild weather, and even in winter the dress of some, especially in the more southerly regions, was far from elaborate. I remember one February, in the mountains of Arizona, visiting a camp of Shevwits to have a talk with the chief. Proceeding toward his wikiup, I found him near it lying naked, basking in the sun, only partly covered by a rabbit-skin robe. He seemed to be warm and happy, the spot being a sheltered one in a canyon, and the rays of the sun being comfortably warm. In a _Journal of a Voyage to New York in 1679–80_, the authors, speaking of the natives near Sandy Hook, said: “They wear something in front, over the thighs, and a piece of duffels, like a blanket, around the body, and this is all the clothing they have. Their hair hangs down from their head in strings, well smeared with fat, and sometimes with quantities of little beads twisted in it out of pride.”[136] [Illustration: EAR-PERFORATING AND HAIR-DRESSING OF SEMINOLES] In war the body was generally naked in many tribes.[137] The Navajo warrior wore absolutely nothing but the breech-cloth, and I am not sure that he wore even that. In some tribes the warriors wore a head-dress, either a kind of turban or a feather head-dress. The Dakotas wore their long trailing war-bonnets of feathers, or not possessing one, certain feathers in their hair, according to their standing as warriors; and sometimes their leggings. Of course each carried bow, quiver, shield, and such weapons of his tribe as were in vogue. On the North-west coast a protective armour was employed, and such a practice obtained in other regions, notably among the Aztecs and other Mexicans, who made a thick quilted cotton armour, as was noted in the quotations from Prescott. The subject of armour, however, belongs to another chapter. The wearing of rings in the nose and ears, and the perforation of the ears, while a part of costume, more properly belongs to customs. In the “ghost” excitement of a few years ago, special shirts were donned, and in the battles resulting from this craze, these shirts were worn because they were thought to be proof against bullets and all other weapons. “During the dance,” says Mooney, “it was worn as an outside garment, but was said to be worn at other times under the ordinary dress. Although the shape, fringing, and feather adornment were practically the same in every case, considerable variation existed in regard to the painting, the designs on some being very simple, while the others were fairly covered with representations of sun, moon, and stars, the sacred things of their mythology, and the visions of the trance. The feathers attached to the garment were always those of the eagle, and the thread used in the sewing was always the old-time sinew.”[138] The approved material of the “ghost-shirt” was buckskin, but where this could not be had the shirt was made of cotton cloth.