l20 Dr King on the Industrial Arts of the Esquimaux, 



use are of deer-skin, with the hair inside ; but, in fact, every 

 kind of skin is appropriated to this necessary part of the win- 

 ter gear. The natives of Behring Straits skin the paw of 

 the bear, and wear it as a glove. 



Besides the differences I have mentioned between indivi- 

 duals of the same tribe, there are others between tribe and 

 tribe. At the River Clyde and Begdnt Bay, the man's 

 jacket behind is quite straight, while before there is a sort 

 of scollop in the centre. To the westward of Mackenzie Biver, 

 a skirt is worn before as well as behind ; and at the Copper- 

 mine River, the tail of the woman's jacket is not more than a 

 foot long.* A wooden cap, carved to resemble the bear or 

 the seal, or, in fact, any animal of which they may be in 

 search, is worn to the westward of the Mackenzie, in order 

 to facilitate their approach to within gun-shoif A cap made 

 of the skin of the tail of the buffalo is worn in the summer to 

 keep off the musquitoes.| 



At Labrador, the women's boots, instead of being looped 

 up to the breeches, are " holden," says Sir Martin Frobisher, 

 ** from falling down about their feet by a piece of bone placed 

 within them for their whole length f § according to Mr Henry 

 Ellis, they have an additional piece of whalebone to keep 

 them wide at the top ; and at Lawrence Island and the river 

 Clyde, they are worn close to the leg like those of the men. 

 The Esquimaux of Prince William Sound dispense with the 

 hood to the jacket, and wear a high truncated conic cap made 

 of straw, and sometimes of wood. At the Savage Islands, 

 Southampton Island, the River Clyde, and occasionally Prince 

 "William Sound, the women, instead of breeches, wear little 

 thigh wrappers, which form but a very imperfect covering, 

 and is the cause of their frequently getting frost-bitten ; yet 

 they are so wedded to custom, that they will not add one 

 inch to the established length. A tippet covering the shoul- 

 ders, cut from the white part of the deer-skin, is occasionally 

 worn by some of the younger persons as an ornament The 

 girdle worn round the waist is frequently ornamented with 



* Cook. t Saaer. \ Ellis. § Frobisher, 



