ETHNOLOGICAL MATERIAL ^3 



in the seam. This is a common pattern, the insertion being 

 frequently a piece of bright colored cloth, variously toothed 

 or crenated at the free margin. The central piece is of white 

 leather embroidered with silk in a floral design. Around this 

 is sewn a four-ply braid of red and purple porcupine quills, 

 bordered with one roll of light red and two of aster-purple 

 colored horsehair. They are exactly alike but are worn as 

 rights and lefts, the flexible leather adapting itself to the foot 

 on the first wearing. 



The collection contains a pair, No. 11,229, from Macleod, 

 made by a Piegan woman, which is of a different type. They 

 are of cowhide with canvas tops and strings. They are made 

 as rights and lefts. The soles are in two pieces. Along the 

 middle of the instep and the outer margin of the upper there 

 are a large number of beads arranged in geometrical patterns. 

 There is a double fringe of red and blue flannel around the tops. 

 Duffels. The Indians wear pieces of blanketing for socks, but 

 they sometimes obtain the loose, heavy woolen cloth known as 

 duffel. The fibre is straight and coarse, but the loose texture 

 makes it more suitable than blanketing for socks, mittens, etc. 

 The whites and metis use it exclusively. A pair of duffels in 

 the collection, No. 9,592, from Grand Rapids, are made in a 

 single piece sewed around one side and at the heel. There is a 

 broad tongue and no top, though this is usually made similar to 

 that of a moccasin. The Indians and poorer class of metis tear 

 the cloth in pieces a foot square and do not sew them at all. 

 This form of foot wrapping has the advantage that the points of 

 greatest wear may be shifted and the cloth does not become 

 threadbare and cold so quickly. 



Mittens. The Indians protect their hands by mittens of 

 dressed leather lined with pieces of blanket, duffel, or rabbit- 

 skin and occasionally caribouskin with the hair inside. They 

 are worn with a line around the neck to hold them when the 

 hand is removed, as it frequently is in handling sled lines, dog 

 harness, and in shooting. They are always large, loose fitting, 

 and in severe weather afford insufficient protection. Those 

 worn by the metis and whites are longer in the wrist, and orna- 

 mented with ribbons, silk, and beads, besides fur trimming and 

 cords of variegated worsted. The collection contains a pair, No 

 10,834, from Rae, of moose leather lined with blanketing. They 



