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When it is quite dry, the women take the skin and chew it 

 thoroughly on its inner side, in order to get as much fat out 

 as possible and make it soft. Then it is dried once again and 

 scraped with the bhint-edged skin-scraper, so that it becomes 

 soft and flexible. There can be no doubt that the chewing of 

 these large skins is exceedingly hard work. A woman is said 

 to be able to chew two reindeer skins in a day, but she can- 

 not keep at it from day to day. 



The cutling-up of the skins into pieces of clothing is 

 done by the women, quite freely with the curved ulo, without 

 using any measurer or model. The model they follow must be 

 so fixed by tradition and so much a matter of practice, that it 

 is used almost reflexly and unconsciously. The Eskimo works 

 Avith such ease at a skin-coat, that one gets the impression, 

 she does not use much brain-work on it. In sewing she sits 

 on the platform with the legs crossed, in the fashion of the 

 Turks. The skin is held with the feet, for example, by fixing 

 it between the big toe and the second toe on the right foot, 

 by holding it between the big toe of the right foot and the left 

 leg or by placing it between the left knee and the right foot. 

 The needle, which now is of European make, is carried from the 

 right to the left. With thicker skins a thimble is used on the 

 forefinger. The thread is unravelled as it is used from a 

 bundle of sinews, which is softened in the mouth. This is 

 constantly being used during the work, as the skin edges to 

 be sewn together are softened by chewing, and the finished 

 seam is treated in the same manner. A pin-cushion is some- 

 times used for keeping the needles in, made of a small skin- 

 bag containing some moss, and all the sewing requisites are 

 kept in a small skin-bag. 



True ornaments or other colours than those naturally 

 possessed by the skins are not used to any extent on the 

 dress, nor on the implements. This pomes partly from the 

 lack of ornamental materials, partly from the fact, that the 



