CLOTHING AND CLEANLINESS 



her skirt for the picture she wiped her face and 

 pocketed her handkerchief in her boot. That is the 

 Eskimo pocket ! Big parcels go into the hood, 

 along with the baby ; but the woman's boot is the 

 hiding-place for all her smaller treasures. I have 

 seen hymn-books, biscuits, pipes, bits of bead-work or 

 sealskin pockets for sale, wools, rolls of cloth, money 

 all sorts of things, stuffed into the convenient wide 

 leg of the boot. 



It is no easy matter to write so as to give an 

 adequate idea of the stage at which the Christian 

 Eskimos have arrived in the things of cleanliness. 

 The heathen were dirty by choice ; or rather, they 

 were dirty because they knew no better, and because 

 they were content to remain so. Things have 

 changed since heathen days; lessons have been 

 taught ; and my life in Okak gave me some small hint 

 of the difficulties and the prejudice that the old pioneer 

 missionaries had to face in making a beginning. 



There is now a foundation to build on ; the 



children of to-day are born of parents who have 



i learnt some of the lessons ; they have from their birth 



i some of the ambition to be neat and clean which is 



so clear a mark of civilisation. I cannot hold the 



Eskimos up as a cleanly race ; they have an immense 



I amount to learn ; they are still far behind true 



I civilisation in habits of cleanliness and sanitation ; 



! but this I can say, they are far, far ahead of their 



heathen brothers. 



It may, I think, be fairly said of the Eskimos to- 

 day that they keep themselves and their clothes re- 

 markably clean considering the nature of their work, 

 i In the north, where no trees grow, and seal-oil lamps 

 provide light and a meagre tinge of warmth for the 



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