CLOTHING THE EXTREMITIES 



would be developed; and while we have no means of 

 determining that this was the actual process of the 

 evolution, it is a most natural one. Such, undoubt- 

 edly, is the way in which the wearing of clothing the 

 year round came about, and we may judge by analogy 

 that the wearing of clothing for the feet developed in 

 a similar manner. 



It is certain that even in the most remote periods 

 of antiquity shoes or sandals of some form were in 

 use by all civilized, or semi-civilized, peoples. In 

 Egypt, where there was no need of protection against 

 the cold, the sandal was the prevailing form of foot- 

 gear. These sandals were made of straw, reeds, wood, 

 or leather, and of numerous patterns, some of them 

 plain and designed only for protection, while others 

 were of fantastic shapes, made of costly material and 

 richly ornamented. Some of these sandals were held 

 in place by simple toe-straps, into which the foot was 

 thrust, while others were fastened securely about the 

 ankle and across the foot. 



A very common and useful type seems to have been 

 a toboggan-shaped sandal which curved up in front 

 of the toes, with the long point extending backward 

 and fastened to the strap about the ankle. Such a 

 sandal protected the toes from injury by stubbing in 

 the same manner as does the modern shoe. 



Among the early Hebrews both sandals and low 

 shoes, or buskins, were worn. A shoe that was a sort 

 of compromise between the buskin and a sandal was 

 also used, this shoe having a thick protective sole, 

 and an upper part covering the top of the foot and 



