136 



THE POINT BARROW ESKIMO. 



full dress, the men wear a handsome belt woven from feathers, aiid the 

 women one made of wolverines toes. There are iu the collection two 

 of the former and one of the latter. 



No. 89544 [1419] (Fig. 83) has been chosen as the type of a man s 

 belt. It is 35 inches long and 1 inch broad, and made of the shafts of 

 feathers woven into an elegant pattern, bordered on the edges with 

 deerskin, and terminating in a leather loop at one end and a braided 

 string at the other. The loop is a flat piece of skin of the bearded seal, 

 in which is cut a large oblong eye. The weaving begins at the square 

 end of the loop. The warp consists of nine long strands sewed through 

 the inner face of the leather so as to come out on the hinder edge. 

 The middle strand is of stout sinew braid, ending in a knot on the 



Flo. 83. Man s belt woven of feathers. The lower cut shows detail of pattern. 



inner side of the leather. The four on each side are of fine cotton 

 twine or stout thread, each two being one continuous thread passing 

 through the leather and out again. The woof is the shafts of small 

 feathers regularly woven, the first strand woven over and under, end 

 ing over the warp, the next under and over, ending under the warp, 

 and so on alternately, each strand extending about one-fourth inch 

 beyond the, outer warp-strand on each side. This makes the pattern 

 shown in Fig. 836, a long stitch on each side, three very short one* 

 on each side of the middle, and a slightly longer one in the mid 

 dle. The strips of feathers forming the woof are not joined together, 

 but one strip is woven in as far as it will go, ending always on the 

 inner side of the belt, a new strip beginning where the other ends. 

 The shafts of black feathers, with a few of the barbs attached, are 



