38 TKAVEL, ADVENTUKE, AND SPORT. 



with an opening at the top just sufficient for the 

 head to pass through. In addition, the men have 

 tight -fitting trousers of reindeer - skin, which are 

 tucked down into boots of the same material, the 

 latter with soles of walrus -hide. The women also 

 wear trousers, but those are wide, ending immediately 

 below the knee, where they are similarly tucked into 

 the boots. 



In the outer clothing the hairy side of the skin is 

 always to the exterior ; but, on the contrary, the 

 hairy side of those articles worn next the body during 

 the cold season is turned inwards. A close-fitting 

 hood of reindeer - skin, and mittens of the same 

 material, complete their dress. In this costume they 

 defy any kind of weather. Often so clad, night after 

 night, even in the most severe cold, they pursue their 

 seal-fishing miles away from the shore without any 

 other protection from the icy winds. 



The weapons of the Tchuktchis consist of a bow 

 and arrows, a spear which, like the arrows, has a 

 point of iron or of bone a knife, and a kind of sling, 

 used for catching birds. The iron for the arrow and 

 spear heads is obtained from the Americans and 

 Russians in their bartering transactions. They them- 

 selves have no iron at their command, nor any know- 

 ledge of its working. 



To their hunting implements belong the sealing- 

 net, made of finely -cut strips of seal -hide, netted 

 with a three-inch mesh. "With these the young seals, 



