ESKIMO ETHNOLOGICAL MATERIAL ^9 



and intended to be worn inside of boots. The leg is in a single 

 piece ornamented along the outer seam with ten caribou leather 

 strings whipped with red and purple porcupine quills. With 

 the view to improve upon the appearance of this garment they 

 often wear tight-fitting red flannel drawers outside. 



Mittens. The collection contains a pair of mittens, No. 10,908, 

 of polar bearskin, which were obtained at Herschel Island. 

 They were said to be used temporarily as brooms in brushing 

 away snow, with the long hair, rather than as a regular protec- 

 tion for the hands. They are short, unlined and without a con- 

 necting cord. 



Boots. There are three pairs of boots in the collection, all of 

 which were made upon the Siberian coast. A pair from Cape 

 Tchaplin, No. 10,91 1, is of the common type used by the natives 

 in summer, hundreds of pairs of which are made for the whal- 

 ers. The soles are of heavy black sealskin roughly crimped 

 The leg is of more flexible sealskin with the hair removed, and 

 reaches above the calf where it is tied with a drawing-string of 

 seal thong. There is a pair of broad thongs sewed into the 

 seams on each side of the instep which pass through a loop on 

 each side of the heel and around the ankle and tie in front. 



Another pair, No. 10,912, from the same locality, has legs of 

 sealskin in the hair which is worn outside. Hip boots are some- 

 times made of sealskin from which the hair has been removed. 



I obtained a pair of dress boots, No. 10,910, which were made 

 at East Cape, Siberia. The sole is of white whaleskin neatly 

 crimped at the toe and heel. The leg is of Siberian reindeer- 

 skin in four pieces, those in front and rear being white with 

 oblique patches of brown at the top; the side pieces entirely 

 brown. Around the top of these is a band of marten fur 1 inch 

 in width, above which is a 1 inch band of caribouskin; the hair 

 of this is trimmed in two bands down to the skin between 

 which a strip of sealskin }£ inch wide, holding tags of red and 

 blue worsted, is sewed. At the top is a I inch band of dark 

 caribouskin which contains the drawing-string of seal thong, 

 which is about the size of common babiche. Between leg and 

 sole is a piece of red-tanned sealskin, 3 inches wide. The grain 

 side is out. The tie strings are of the same material. They 

 are I inch wide where they are sewed in above the red leather 

 and are 30 inches long. 



