200 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 



dross like iiicii iiiul woinon. ivspoctively, from the time they can walK 

 about. Ba])ies are carried sitting on the shoulders of the parent with 

 their legs hanging over the breast of the carrier. 



ORNAMENTS. 



Strings of colored ])eads are worn suspended from the ears l)y both 

 sexes, old and young. The women also haye many necklaces, which 

 extend to the abdomen, and in indoor dances they display six or 

 seven of these on their persons, nearly naked at the time. A few 

 rings are to be found among the people. A knife in its sheath is 

 usually suspended from belts of men and boys. Amulets are worn 

 on the wrists and ankles by females, and a necklace, made of seal rope; 

 a similar piece of skin is tied about the waist of males, in order to 

 guard against sickness. They are hardly ornamental. No lab rets or 

 nose rings are worn bj^ these natives at present, but the former were 

 worn in the lower lip some years ago. 



Trinmrings, like tassels of fur, are to be found on children's shoulders 

 and on danc(^ garments, which are slight^ more ornamental than 

 those in daily use. Some of the natives have special dance clothes. 

 S6mt> dance boots have three stripes of white seal skin over the dark 

 surface of the remainder of the boot. Tassels of fur are suspended 

 over the ])reast and from the shoulders of the dance garment. The 

 decorated rain coats are worn generally in dances. Chaplets of deer 

 fur or polar-l)ear tuffs are worn on the head in dances l)v the impor- 

 tant functionaries. 



In the living room of their houses no garments whatever are worn, 

 save such as within the narrowest possible limits preserve decency, if 

 not modesty. Small children go wholly nude in the house, yet one 

 must not too readily impute vulgarity to these natives. It is a neces- 

 sity for them to have their living apartments ver}^ warm, and they 

 can not endure fur clothing in a warm temperature, and hence remove 

 their garments. It would be difficult to state that this custom has for 

 these childreii of nature any special perils. 



IMPORTED CLOTHING. 



On(i welcomes the introduction among them of flannel and woolen 

 and linen stuff's for undergarments and house suits. The importation 

 has scarcely as yet l)egun, I am sorry to say. I have urged the wear- 

 ing of at least a calico blouse or frock indoors, both on moral and 

 hygienic grounds. The sick especially ought to be clothed somewhat 

 indoors. A few cloth coats and pairs of trousers and hats are to be 

 found here 



W^ALKINC} STICKS. 



During the wniter a staff a))out 4 feet in length, made of wood, with 

 a loop at the uppcn- end into which tiie hand and wrist are inserted is 

 carried l)y m(Mi to steady their footsteps over the snow. At the bottom 



