ETHNOLOGICAL MATERIAL 



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Dog Rib, through the opening made by lifting the lower edge 

 at the point where the sides meet. The two circular seams are 

 usually marked by a red ochre band, an inch wide. The upper 

 part of the lodge is soon blackened by smoke and soot. Besides 

 the opening at the top, 3 feet in diameter, ventilation is secured 

 by means of the innumerable grub holes with which the skins 

 are perforated. 



Clothing. The adoption of the costume of civilized man has 

 not been a hygienic success. The women wear light print 

 dresses which are a poor substitute for the warm skin clothing 

 of former times. A few gowns of dressed leather are still worn 

 by the Dog Rib women, and both sexes wear capotes of cari- 

 bouskin in the hair while traveling in winter. 



Nearly all children under ten years of age are insufficiently 

 clothed. I saw Dog Rib urchins in midwinter playing outside 

 the lodges or gathering fuel while literally half naked. The 

 younger ones frequently complained, though the older ones 

 seemed as happy and contented as those of warmer climates. 

 The young men are more fastidious in the matter of dress, and 

 wear more beads, quills, silk, and feathers than do the young 

 women, and, I may add, are more cleanly. The Northern In- 

 dians are neither so well clothed nor so well housed as are the 

 Eskimos; the latter manufacture waterproof boots and frocks 

 while the former have no form of foot wear except the mocca- 

 sin which is wet at all seasons; and from the rain they have no 

 protection whatever. 



Hunting Frocks. These are common among the Crees and 

 Athabascans. They are also worn by the metis, by whom they 

 are elaborately decorated with porcupine quills, ribbons, beads, 

 and silk embroidery. There is a mooseskin frock, No. 10,914, in 

 the collection, from McPherson, which was made by a Loucheux 

 woman. It is short in the skirt and sleeves and broad across 

 the shoulders. There are two pairs of thongs, at the throat and 

 breast, by which it may be closed; it broadly overlaps at the 

 waist where it is confined by the belt. The front is hemmed 

 with black cotton cloth backed by a narrow red ribbon. The 

 shoulders are occupied by epaulets of black and green cloth, 

 with a margin of caribou leather fringe whipped at the base with 

 red and purple porcupine quills. The fringe encircles the arms 

 at the shoulder and extends across the back. The sleeve has a 



