228 UTILITARIAN ZOOLOGY 
use bones either of birds or fishes; yet with these simple in- 
struments they sew very strongly and well. The outer dress 
of the men resembles a short greatcoat, with a hood that can 
be pulled over the head if necessary, and which serves as a 
substitute for a hat or cap. Their under-garments or shirts are 
made of bird-skins with the feathers inwards; or of skins with 
the hair inside; sometimes, however, they wear in addition 
another shirt made of seal’s entrails. Their breeches are either 
of seal-skin or reindeer-skin, and their stockings of skins from 
very young animals. The boots are of smooth black dressed 
seal’s leather, and sometimes when at sea they wear a great 
overcoat of the same material. The dress of the women does 
not differ much from that of the 
men.” 
For temperate climates skins 
are far from being a convenient 
form of clothing, and among the 
prehistoric races of Europe were 
gradually replaced by woven fab- 
3 ’ pierre) rics. Coarse materials of the sort 
Fibres of Fibres of Wool as seen under made from flax or straw fibres, 
Wool Microscope a a 
have been discovered in connec- 
tion with some of the Swiss lake- 
dwellings referred to the Stone Age, at a time when tame sheep 
were few in number. But when this animal became an important 
domesticated form the possibility of replacing flax, &c., by wool 
came to be realized. And among the remains of the Bronze Age 
in Jutland various woollen garments have been found. 
The coat of a Mammal typically consists of outer hair, more 
or less harsh in texture, and soft under-fur, the two being present 
in different proportions in different cases. The “wool” of Sheep 
is a specialized kind of under-fur, the individual hairs of which 
are wavy or crimped, and covered with well-marked overlapping 
scales, that promote felting together (fig. 1164). Considerable 
variations exist as to length, fineness, &c., and the fleeces of 
certain existing breeds are noted for their valuable qualities. 
In South-west Asia there is a remarkable variety of the domestic 
form, known as the Flat-Tailed Sheep, in which the tail is 
enormously large and fat, weighing as much as 4o or 50 Ibs. 
A miniature sledge or cart is often attached to animals of the kind, 
Fig. 1164 
