572 



W. Thalbitzer 



are however уегз»^ different from the above-mentioned modes from the other 

 side of the Davis Straits, but the flaps on the female frocks are certainly 



larger than in these 

 old pictures (cf. the il- 

 lustrations in Egede) ^). 

 In Holm's collection we 

 see the old fashioned 

 mode represented by 

 an interesting specim- 

 en of a woman's dress 

 from southern East 

 Greenland with larger 

 flaps than usual now 

 and with a peculiar 

 style of seaming over 

 the breast, distinctive of 

 old-style dresses from 

 southern West Green- 

 land (fig. 309)2). The 

 mode of the large flaps 

 has probably been pre- 

 dominant among the 

 tribes which once im- 

 migrated into Green- 

 land, but has been 

 given up here, perhaps 

 already before the time 

 of immigration. 



If we consider that 

 the long tails in front 

 and at the back of the 

 women's frocks have 

 originally been formed 

 as a sort of petticoat 

 round the waist and 

 hips — this being the 

 shape of their hooded 

 frock on the islands in 

 the Bering Straits — the 

 characteristic feature 

 of the women's dresses 

 becomes the long slit 

 from the lower border 

 of the frock and up 

 along each side. Near 

 the mouth of the River 

 Yukon the frocks of the 

 women were almost 

 like those of the men, except that they were cut up a little further on the 



Fig. 296. 



Hooded waterproof kaiak frock, front view. 

 (Holm coll.). i/io. 



') Hans Egede (1741); Poul Egede (1788) PI. II with two natives. 



^) Johan Petersen remembered having seen the same fashion of seaming in his 



childliood in West Greenland, and it corresponds exactly Avith the old illustration 



just cited from Poul Egede (1788). 



