NELSON | 



CEREMONIAL FILLETS 



417 



On the lower Yukon and thence to Kuskokwini river, the men daring- 

 certain dances wear broad filets made of wolfskin or of skin from the 

 neck of the reindeer, with the long hair upstanding. The wolfskin 

 fillets are made from narrow strips of skin taken from the animal s 



shoulders or neck, where the fur is longest. These 

 strips are sewed to the edges of a baud of tanned 

 sealskin, forming an upstanding ring- of fur extend 

 ing from the edges both upward and downward. 

 On the surface of the intermediate strip of seal 

 skin, which is from two to three inches broad, are 

 sewed narrow, parallel strips of white, parchment- 

 like, tanned sealskin, or reindeer-skin with the 

 hair clipped so as to give it a velvety surface. 

 Another fillet (figure 146) from the same region 



is made from 

 a strip of 

 white, parch 

 ment- like, 

 tanned seal- 

 s k i n about 

 two inches in 

 breadth, hav- 

 iug sewed 

 along its sur 

 face two narrow strips of black, 

 tanned sealskin half an inch apart, 

 with two parallel cords sewed to 

 the skin at equal distances between 

 these black bands. The upper bor 

 der of this fillet has sewed on, in 

 addition, a narrow strip of skin from 

 the neck of the reindeer, with up 

 standing hair eight inches in length. 

 The wolfskin fillet is worn so that 

 one of the bordering lines of wolf hair extends down, concealing the 

 upper half of the face, while the other line of fur stands up about the 

 crown. In the fillet last described the outer standing hairs form a 

 tall, crest-like circle about the crown. 

 18 ETII 21 



PIG. 145 Loonskin fillet 

 worn in dances. 



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FIG. 146 Reindeer-skin fillet (J). 



