DfiESS AND PHYSIQUE OF THE ESKIMOS. 227 



honey-yellow leather, about an eighth of an inch thick, stands the 

 water very well, and is quite durable. 



Under the outer pantaloons the women wear a second pair 

 of thicker deer-skin, skin-side out, with stocking-feet. When the 

 spring conies, and the snow gets sloppy on the surface, they dis- 

 card the outer pantaloons and put on water-proof boots like the 

 men's, but held up by a draw-string just below the knee. Later 

 in the season, when there is a good deal of wet weather, and they 

 are knocking around in boats, they wear pantaloons made wholly 

 of water-proof black sealskin. All these pantaloons, like the 

 men's breeches, are rather short in the waist, and are held up by 

 a girdle just above the hips. Like a sailor's trousers, they need a 

 good deal of hitching up. 



The frock is always confined round the waist by a girdle, often 

 merely a strip of skin. The men, however, often have handsome 

 belts about an inch and a half wide, woven of the shafts of feath- 

 ers. By using black and white feathers a very neat pattern is 

 produced. The fashionable ladies' belt is made by sewing together 

 bits of fur from the feet of the wolverine, each with a single claw 

 attached. 



Fastened to the belt behind, every man and boy wears the 

 bushy tail of some animal. A wolverine's tail is the " correct 

 thing " ; but those who can not afford this wear the tail of the 

 wolf or the Eskimo dog. This fashion gave rise to the story, told 

 by the old Russian voyagers, of men with tails on the American 

 coast. 



It is also very fashionable to wear the skin of an ermine dang- 

 ling from the frock between the shoulders, or an eagle's feather 

 in the same place or on the back of the hood. These are amulets, 

 and are supposed to bring good luck, like the dried birds' heads, 

 bear's claws, and other such things which the men wear dangling 

 from the belt. 



The only head-covering is the hood of the frock, which comes 

 forward just far enough to cover the ears. In very cold weather, 

 or when they are sitting on the ice watching for seals, the men 

 wear cloaks of deer-skin over their other clothes. When it rains, 

 or when they are out in the boats in rough weather, both men 

 and women draw over their other clothes a frock made of strips 

 of the entrails of the seal dried and stitched together. This 

 frock has a hood which fits close round the face, and is quite 

 water-proof. 



Since these people have had so much to do with the white men, 

 they have taken to wearing a good deal of bright-colored calico. 

 Of this they make long frocks without hoods, which they wear 

 over their furs in blustering weather to keep the snow from get- 

 ting on to them. 



