343 



The Polar Eskimo coal and especially that of the men is thus 

 constructed on the articulated principle with bare skin at the 

 joints so as not to hinder the movements. For the sake of 

 warmth an edging of the long-haired bear-skin is often used 

 at the joints, for example, round the upper edge of the women's 

 stockings and round the wrists; on the man's pelt, probably 

 for similar reasons, there is a 

 small bear-skin flap, which sticks 

 out under the chin. 



When it gets very cold, the 

 joints are bound round with fox- 

 tails , and it is also said that a 

 fox's tail is hung over the nose 

 from the forehead. Short skin 

 mittens with one finger are worn 

 on the hands; they are filled 

 with dry grass. Even in summer 

 there were some among both the 

 men and the women who went 

 about with mittens on; thus the 

 old Masaitsiak wore them even 

 on mild, sunny days. When the 

 women are sitting down and their 

 hands are freezing, they stick 

 them down in the long kamikker 

 inside the hare-skin stockings. 



The skins, which are to be 

 used as pelts and thus have the hair kept on, must also 

 undergo a long treatment. First as much blubber as possible 

 is cut and scraped off with the ulo ; then the skin is stretched 

 out on the ground to dry, being held down by numerous 

 pieces of bone — bO or more — which are stuck into the 

 ground through holes in the edges of the skin. The skin is 

 thus tightly stretched out with the inner side uppermost. 



Fig. 33. 



A boy in bearskin trousers and sealskin pelt. 



