MOCCASINS. 165 



worn on the whole or nearly the whole coast. Their price varies 

 from poorly made boots at $2.00 to the best at ^2.50 to ^3.00 ; 

 while the scarcity of seals will sometimes render them even more 

 expensive. A dried sealskin for making boot bottoms averages 

 in price at $1.50. The bootleg is often made of dogskin similarly 

 dressed to the sealskin, but the same general character prev^ails in 

 all, however made. In winter the men usually wear moccasins 

 on their feet. These are generally made of dressed deerskin or 

 mooseskin, and worn by those on the coast who are fortunate enough 

 to have procured the skins either by purchase or trade, by their 

 own success in hunting, or, as is generally the case, directly from 

 the Indians. The process by which the skins are tanned in the best 

 manner seems to be kept a secret. A moccasin is generally made 

 in much the same manner as a boot bottom, and in place of the 

 leg is a simple binding of colored cloth doubled to allow a piece 

 of braid to be inserted which, tied, holds the moccasin to the 

 foot, while many are simply bound without strings. In some cases 

 a wide piece is sewed on to the top that may reach around the 

 ankle, while a loop on each side holds a strip of deerskin that 

 ties around the ankle holding the moccasin fast to the leg. 



Moccasins are of endless patterns and varieties : some are like 

 slippers and very plainly made ; others are more carefully pre- 

 pared, by ornamenting the tongue with beads, colored cotton, or 

 porcupine quills wrought into figures, flowers, and forms of many 

 varieties. Very often the shoe is tanned and rendered quite brown 

 by this process. Sometimes the toes are pointed, the side fringed, 

 and many are the devices for varying the make and pattern so 

 that the taste of the purchaser may be gratified in his selection 

 of a pair. Deerskin moccasins are only worn on snow and in 

 snowy weather ; for being of a soft skin the slightest wet will at 

 once shrink and spoil them. The snow here often falls in large, 

 deep masses of a very dry nature, and only at this time these 

 shoes are worn, — but they are never worn alone ; the universal 

 accompaniment is a pair of leggings made of thick swanskin, 

 which is a sort of very thick, woolly, cotton-like cloth in common 



