636 ANNUAL EEPOET SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 2 8 



habitat extends from Greenland and the isLands north of Hudson 

 Bay on the east to the isolated islands of Bering Sea on the west. 



The so-called western Eskimo inhabit the shores of the northern 

 seas from the mouth of the Mackenzie River around Alaska to Mount 

 St. Elias on the south. Their habitations, as well as their mode of 

 dress and living, vary according to the animals on which they de- 

 pend, and the contact they have had with other races. In Plate 5 

 are seen a man, woman, and child from the Mackenzie Eiver district 

 dressed in caribou skins, and a woman from Bristol Bay clad in mar- 

 mot skins. The Norton Sound Eskimo have been under instruction 

 of Russians and Americans for more than 100 years, and their mode 

 of dress has become much modified. The Eskimo who inhabits the 

 coast and a portion of the lower river valleys of Alaska have found 

 means to adapt themselves to the requirements of the rigorous climate. 

 Two articles of dress illustrating this adaptation are snowshoes and 

 snow goggles. Snow goggles are shaped from wood or walrus ivory 

 and have narrow slit openings for shutting out much of the glaring 

 sunlight as reflected from the snow fields. Even with this protective 

 device snoAv blindness is not unknown among them. 



Among the central Eskimo who live on the area between Hudson 

 Strait and Baffin Bay the clothing of men and women is made from 

 skins of seal and deer. It consists of outside and inside trousers, 

 jackets, boots, and inside boots made of light deerskin or birdskin. 

 The inside boots take the place of socks, which, among several of 

 the western Eskimo groups, are fashioned from native grasses. The 

 jackets of the women have hoods attached to them. 



The eastern Eskimo inhabit Greenland, the shores of northern 

 Labrador, and of Hudson Bay, adjoining. In the Museum installa- 

 tion (pi. 6) will be seen a young woman from southwestern Green- 

 land, her dress resembling that of a Lapp ; a man from eastern Hud- 

 son Bay, with his harpoon; a woman with her babe, from Ungava 

 Bay, Labrador; and a woman from northern Hudson Bay in garments 

 of reindeer skin. In the first named the people have been under in- 

 struction of Moravian missionaries many years. The women are 

 dressed in aboriginal costumes of reindeer fur, little modified by 

 outside influences. The loose, roomy garments correspond with those 

 figured by the early voyagers. The showy costumes ornamented with 

 fine sewing of reindeer hair and applique of colored leather, together 

 with the robes of eiderdown are particularly attractive. The Green- 

 land Eskimo have been in contact for many years with the Danish 

 rulers and settlers, which has especially modified the art with which 

 they construct their clothing, but not the form of the clothes them- 

 selves. (PI. G.) 



