45 
How long these open fur coats have been used is not certain. The 
hood itself is not fitted to the head, as in the case of the Western Eskimo 
parka, but is rather pointed behind. There may be a genetic relation- 
ship between this type of hood and an early type used by the Mackenzie 
Eskimo. Keith (1890, II, page 121) says that the Big Arrow Indians 
(Hare) had a hood sewed to a shirt for winter wear and that this, with 
the addition of the natural hair of the skins, constituted the difference 
between winter and summer dress. Nevertheless, a few sentences after- 
wards, he mentions a double dress used to advantage in winter by those 
who could afford it. 
As for lower garments, Keith (1890, II, page 121) states that leggings 
with footwear attached were used in winter by Bear Lake Indians. Since 
that time trousers of caribou skin with the hair on are known to have 
been worn. Short leggings were used with them, the flaps of the mocca- 
sins wrapping around the bottom. These trousers may well go back in 
use to an early date, again a conformation to the Alaska-Yukon Atha- 
paskan culture. To support this supposition is Wentzel’s statement 
(Wentzel, 1890, I, page 87) concerning the Beaver (Slave) woman's winter 
costume: “Their leggings are long and made like trousers except in the 
front where an aperture is left to attend the calls of nature." 
Winter moccasins were of the same type as summer ones, but larger, 
to permit the insertion of the duffel, which was commonly the whole skin 
of a rabbit turned inside out, the foot of the man being pushed into the 
head of the rabbit skin. Caribou skin duffels were also used, preferably 
young skins sewn with sinew and worn with the hair inside. 
Mittens were made of tanned moose skin without the hair and trimmed 
with beaver or other furs. A single line of tanned moose skin passed 
around the neck supported them, and pieces of rabbit skin loosely placed 
inside served as duffel. Gloves were probably unknown until recent 
years. 
Rabbit skin clothes were worn by the natives on the lower Mackenzie 
and particularly by the Hares who lived on the river. The dress was of 
the same type as that of the Satudene except that it was woven from 
twisted rabbit skins. Caribou skin clothes were always preferable. Chil- 
dren were more apt to be seen wearing rabbit skins. At the present time 
it is difficult to find even a blanket of this material. 
In former times robes were an essential part of the dress of the people. 
These were made of tanned caribou skins sewn together in blanket form. 
Young skins were preferable, with the hair slightly longer than for capotes. 
Robes of plaited rabbit skin were used, but probably those of caribou 
skin were preferred. Musk-ox robes are also said to have been used. 
These robes served the purpose of bedding also, and large size, untanned 
caribou skins, with the hair up, were used under them. 
At the present time among the tribes of Great Bear Lake region, the 
clothing, except for moccasins and mittens, is the result of recent contact. 
The hooded shirt of wool or blanket-parka, now worn almost exclusively, 
was undoubtedly borrowed from the Eskimo and introduced by white 
men. The high boot resembling the Eskimo mukluk has probably travelled 
from the same source, but it can by no means be said to have supplanted 
the moccasin. For the rest of the costume, European wools and silks have 
displaced tanned skins and furs. 
