346 
now THEY CLOTHE THEMSELVES. 
a most puzzling diversity of feature and general appear- 
ance. 
These particular three whom we now joined — and, in 
fact, all of those whom we subsequently encountered in 
the village — ^Avere of ordinary stature, flat-featured, and of 
a sallow, olive complexion; and that is about all I can 
say of them. They were dressed in loose garments of 
reindeer-skins that had been well cured, with the hair 
inside, and the red and polished buckskin turned outside 
to bid defiance to every thing in the shape of briers, and 
almost to old Time himself. It was diflicult to imagine 
how such clothes could ever wear out, so preserving a 
polish had they received from the combination of dirt 
and grease with which they seemed to be brought in con- 
stant contact. 
Their trousers and boots — or rather, I should say, moc- 
casins — were made in one, and a smockfrock-like gar- 
ment came down half-way to the knee and was confined 
around the waist by a buckskin bolt. This frock was 
provided with a hood, which usually hung down the back, 
but which could bo hauled over both head and face at the 
pleasure of the wearer. When thus rigged out they w^ere 
cold-proof, and in fact water-proof also, as long as they did 
not wade where it was more than waist-deep. Some of 
their clothes were sewed with waxed thread, obtained 
probably years back from wandering whalers, while 
others were more perceptibly, but with equal neatxiess 
and far greater strengtli, stitched together with threads 
drawn from the sinews of the reindeer or mountain-elk. 
Although our examination of Hartman’s companions 
was so very close, it was not a whit more so than theirs. 
