474 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



the man's, passes downwards into a sort of very wide trousers. 

 The sleeves too are exceedingly wide, so that the arm may easily 

 be drawn in and stuck out. Under the outer pcsk there is an 

 inner pcsk, or skin-shirt, and under them a pair of very short 

 trousers is worn. Where the outer pesk ends the moccasins 

 begin. At the neck the pesk is much cut away, so that a part 

 of the back is bare. I have seen girls go with the upper part 

 of the back exposed in this way even in a cold of- 30° or —40°. 

 The stockings have the hair inwards, they are bordered with 

 dog-skin, and go to the knees. The moccasins, chin-covers, 

 hoods, and neckerchiefs diifer little from the corresponding- 

 articles of men's dress. The woman's dress is in general more 

 ornamented than the man's, and the skins used for it appear to 

 be more carefully chosen and prepared. In the inner tent the 

 women go nearly naked, only with quite short under-trousers of 

 skin or calico or a naiTow ciiigtdwni 'pudicitice . On the naked 



SNOW-SHOES. 



a. The common kind. h. Intended to be used in the way shown in the drawing on the 

 opposite page. 



(One-thirteenth of the natural size.) 



body there are worn besides one or two leather bands on one 

 arm, a leather band on the throat, another round the waist, and 

 some bracelets of iron or less frequently of copper on the wrists. 

 The younger women however do not like to show themselves in 

 this dress to foreigners, and they therefore hasten at their 

 entrance to cover the lower part of the body with the pesk, or 

 some other piece of dress that may be at hand. 



When the children are some years old they get the same 

 dress as their parents, different for boys and girls. While small 

 they are put into a wide skin covering with the legs and arms 

 sewed together downwards. Behind there is a four-cornered 

 opening through which moss (the white, dead part of 

 Sphagnum), intended to absorb the excreta, is put in and 

 changed. At the ends of the arms two loops are fastened, 

 through which the child's legs are j^assed when the mother 



