io8 HUNTERS OF THE GREAT NORTH 



with some material which stiffens on freezing, so that 

 even though the Indian tanned skin may be just as soft 

 as the Eskimo tanned in a warm room, it will be appre- 

 ciably stiffer out of doors. 



The Eskimo "tanning" also makes the skin exceedingly 

 light so that a complete set of winter garments weighs 

 rather less than the average man's business suit in winter 

 in such places as New York or London. The best suit 

 I ever had weighed a little less than ten pounds, and that 

 included every stitch I had on from my toes to the top 

 of my head. 



Our winter undergarments have the fur in all the way 

 from socks to mittens. You may think this would tickle, 

 but it does not any more than a sealskin collar tickles 

 3'our cheek. We arrange our clothes so that we seldom 

 perspire even with fairly violent exercise, but if they do 

 get damp, they dry much more quickly than woolen gar- 

 ments. The outer clothes have the fur out everywhere 

 except the palms of the outer mittens and the soles of 

 the boots. 



Both the undershirt and the coat that goes over it have 

 a hood which covers the head so as to protect the ears 

 but leaves the cheeks and forehead exposed. I have 

 known white men who wore knitted woolen caps inside 

 the hood and I think if I were bald I might do the same. 

 For a man who is not bald (and Eskimos seldom are) 

 using a knitted cap is no advantage. I used to think it 

 would be better to have the hood come far forward, some- 

 thing like a sunbonnet, so as to shelter the nose and cheeks 

 from a cold wind. I have found this the opposite of an 

 advantage, for your breath catches in the hood if it sticks 

 too fat forward and forms a mass of ice that rubs against 

 youi cheek and eventually freezes you. 



