MURDOCH. ] BOOTS. 135 
comes across the ball of the foot, then through the hinder loops, and 
are crossed above the heel, carried once or twice around the ankle, and 
tied in front. 
Such boots are universally worn 
in summer. The men’s boots are 
usually left with an irregular edge 
at the top, and are held up by the 
breeches, while the women’s usually 
have white bands around the tops 
with drawstrings. Half-boots of 
the same material, reaching to mid- 
leg, without drawstrings, or shoes 
reaching just above the ankle with 
a string round the top are some- 
times worn over the deerskin boots. 
Similar shoes of deerskin are some- 
times worn in place of boots. 
Waterproof boots of black seal- 
skin are universally employed by 
Eskimo and by the Aleuts. These 
boots stand water for a long time 
without getting wet through, but 
when they become wet they must 
be turned inside out and dried very 
slowly to prevent them from shrink- 
ing, and worked soft with a stone 
skin-dressing tool or the teeth. The natives prefer to dry them in the 
sun. When the black epidermis wears off this leather is no longer 
raterproof, so that the women are always on the watch for white spots, 
which are mended with water-tight patches as soon as possible. 
In the early spring, before it thaws enough to render waterproof boots 
necessary, the surface of the snow becomes 
very smooth and slippery. To enable them- 
selves to walk on this surface without fall- 
“3 ing, the natives make a kind of “creeper” 
out of strips of sealskin. These are doubled 
Fig. 82.—Sketch of ‘‘ice-creepers” on lengthwise, and generally bent into a half- 
pot aule: moon or horseshoe shape, with the folded 
edges on the outside of the curve, sewed on the toe and heel of the 
sealskin sole, as represented in Fig. 82. 
Woman’s waterproof sealskin boot. 
PARTS OF DRESS. 
Belts (tapst)—The belt which is used to hold up the pantaloons or 
breeches is simply a stout strip of skin tied round the waist. The gir- 
dle, which is always worn outside of the frock, except when the weather 
is warm or the wearer heated by exercise, is very often a similar strap 
of deerskin, or perhaps wolfskin. Often, however, and especially for 
