CLOTHING AND CLEANLINESS 



their Sunday dickys. Their taste lies in the direc- 

 tion of brilliant colours and startling mixtures ; and 

 I was amused to find that Deborah, our best needle- 

 woman at Okak, had mixed a few glaring pink flowers 

 among the delicate pattern that she was working in 

 art shades of green and brown at the order of an 

 English visitor. 



Deborah thought that the pattern was vastly 

 improved by these vivid dabs of pink ; and, after all, 

 the result of her quaint ideas was characteristically 

 Eskimo. 



Whatever work they may be doing in their homes, 

 it is quite likely that the women have discarded their 

 skirts, and are clothed in blanket trousers, as the old 

 style was. It struck me as a sensible sort of dress 

 for them, better suited to the work they have to do 

 than skirts which get draggled and oil-stained ; and 

 yet, I suppose, the reason that they so seldom appear 

 in public in their trousers is that they are afraid of 

 being laughed at. Probably shyness has led to their 

 adoption of the skirt, for they are far more common 

 at the southern stations, which touch the fringe of 

 civilization, than at Okak and! the villages further 

 north, where there are still women who go about 

 their daily work in trousers. I had no difficulty in 

 persuading them to be photographed in their national 

 dress ; they are, in their inmost hearts, proud of it, 

 and save a specially fine outfit for festival days in 

 church. When I went to take a picture of old Ruth 

 I had the good fortune to get a snapshot of another 

 old Eskimo habit. Ruth was highly flattered at the 

 idea of a photograph, and became quite excited about 

 it ; in fact, her face was perspiring so with the fluster 

 into which she had worked herself, that before doffing 



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