WOMEN. 1 1 



shirts of the skin of the hare. This, being too 

 tender to be used in the ordinary way, is torn into 

 narrow strips, which are then twisted slightly, and 

 plaited or worked into the required shape. I have 

 noticed no process among the northern Indians 

 that approaches so nearly to weaving as the manu- 

 facture of these white hare-skin shirts.* Such is 

 the closeness and fineness of the fur, that they are 

 exceedingly warm, notwithstanding the looseness 

 of their texture. Thousrh the dress of the southern 



o 



Indians is after the same pattern with that of the 

 'Tinne, the Kutchin, both in the interior and on 

 the coast, form, as has been already mentioned, the 

 hose and shoes of the same piece ; thus imitating 

 the Eskimo boot, though with a different material. 



The Dog-rib men and women leave their hair 

 without other dressing than simply wiping their 

 greasy hands on the matted locks, when they have 

 been rubbing their bodies with marrow, which 

 they occasionally do. 



The Hare Indian and Dog-rib women are cer- 

 tainly at the bottom of the scale of humanity in 

 North America. Not that they are treated with 

 cruelty, for the 'Tinne are not a cruel people, but 

 that they are looked upon as inferior beings, and 

 in this belief they themselves acquiesce. In early 



* The Kenaiyer of Cook's Inlet are said to weave the wool 

 of the mountain goat {Ctvpra americana) into a stuff used for 

 clothing;. 



