MURDOCH.] 



STOCKINGS HOOTS AND SHOES. 



129 



Boots and breeches united in this way so as to form pantaloons are 

 peculiar to the west of America, where they are universally worn from 

 the Mackenzie district westward and southward. We have no speci 

 mens of women s leg coverings from the Mackenzie district, but Petitot 1 

 describes them thus : &amp;gt;( Lepantalon * * * fait corps avec la chaus- 

 sure.&quot; In the east the women always wear breeches separate from the 

 boots, which usually differ from those of the men in their size and length, 

 often reaching to the hips. 2 



Stocking*. Next to the skin on the feet and legs the men wear stock 

 ings of deerskin, usually of soft, rather long-haired skin, with the hair in. 

 These are usually in three pieces, the leg, 1, 

 toe piece, 2, and sole, 3 (see diagram, Fig. 

 74). A straight strip about 1 inch wide often 

 runs round the foot between the sole and the 

 other pieces. Stockings of this pattern, but 

 made of very thick winter deerskin, are sub 

 stituted for the outer boots when deer-hunt 

 ing in winter in the dry snow, especially 

 when snowshoes are used. They are warm ; 

 the flesh side sheds the snow well and the 

 thick hair acts as a sort of wadding which 

 keeps the feet from being galled by the bars 

 and strings of the suowslioes. Many of the 

 deer-hunters in 1883 made rough buskins 

 of this pattern out of the skins of freshly 

 killed deer simply dried, without further 

 preparation. 



Boots and nhoe*. Over the stockings are 

 worn boots or shoes with uppers of various 

 kinds of skin, with the hair on, or black 

 tanned sealskin, always fitted to heelless 

 crimped moccasin soles of some different 

 leather, of the pattern which, with some 

 slight modifications of form, is universal 

 among the Eskimo. These soles are made 

 as follows: A &quot;blank&quot; for the sole is cut 

 out, of the shape, of the foot, but a couple 

 of inches larger all round. Then, begin 



i j- 4., u 11 4- 4.1 f Fl - &quot; -I attcrn f stocking. 



mug at one side ot the ball oi the toot, the 



toe part is doubled over toward the inside of the sole, so that the 



edges just match. The two parts are then pinched together with 



1 Monographic, etc., p. xv. 



2 Bessels, Naturalist, vol. 18, p. 865, Smith Sounfl ; Kgcde. p. 131, and Crantz, vol. 1, p. 138, Greenland ; 

 Parry, 2d Voy., j&amp;gt;. 495 and 496, Iglulik. and Kumlien. up. cit., p. 23, Cumberland Gulf. Also in Labra 

 dor, see PL XVII. Naturalist, vol. 19, \u. 6. The old eouple whom Franklin met at the liloody Fall of 

 the Coppermine appear to have worn pantaloons, for he speaks of their &quot;tight leggings sewed to 



shoes&quot; (1st Erp., vol. 2. p. 180). 

 9 ETH 9 



