ETHNOGRAPHY OF ARCTIC EURASIA 195 



are marked by uniformity. For instance, the Eskimo and Samoyed 

 ways of crawling up on seals lying near their air holes in the ice are 

 completely similar. 



Ethnography has ahead of it, however, a considerable under- 

 taking in distinguishing the types of implements — fishing rods and 

 nets, floats and weights, creels and scoops, bows and arrows, darts 

 and traps. It must indicate the variants of these types and make 

 a comparative study of the entire extensive region. 



Clothing 



In the whole polar zone of the Old World fur clothes of rein- 

 deer skin are commonly used. Kinds of skin and methods of tanning 

 are almost everywhere identical. The footwear everywhere is made 

 of kamiis, i.e. the skin of reindeer legs. Kamus has a short dense hair, 

 growing downwards, to which the snow does not stick. This foot- 

 wear is universally made with a soft sole and without heels and fitted 

 with an inner sole of grass ; but with this general similarity there exists 

 the special peculiarity that every tribe makes its inner grass soles in a 

 definite way that distinguishes it from all other tribes. 



Such definiteness in small details seems to indicate that the forma- 

 tion of the polar culture must have occupied a long time. 



The fur shirts of the Chukchis are made so wide that, if desired, 

 it is possible for the wearer to take out his arms from the sleeves with- 

 out removing the shirt and without effort turn around in his shirt as 

 if in a small tent. The same fashion of shirt is found among the 

 Samoyeds of the Yamal Peninsula. 



It is curious to note the similarity of various small articles of 

 wear. For example, eye shades, worn in springtime for the protec- 

 tion of the eyes from the intolerable glare of the snow, are quite 

 identical in the whole circumpolar zone. The same is true of a special 

 form of needle case, bone or leather thimbles, a girdle pouch for 

 minor articles, and embroidery patterns. 



Food and Cooking 



The same similarity, almost identity, is noted in the ways of 

 preparing and using food. Meat and fish are used as food either 

 raw or cooked. In cooking, the meat is boiled a little and remains 

 bloody and hard, and the manner itself of eating the meat, raw or 

 boiled, is the same, from the European Samoyeds to the American 

 Eskimos. A piece of meat is taken with the teeth and held with the 

 left hand. The right hand uses the knife and cuts the meat, almost 

 at the lips, by a characteristic upward stroke, somewhat slanting in 

 order not to hit the nose. 



