SARYTSCHEw’s TRAVELS. 
by a retrograde descent of about five miles, we reached the 
Aleutian village of llluluk. 
Illuiuk lies on the eastern part of Captain’s-bay, at the mouth 
©f a brook. It contains four large jurts, or huts, constructed of 
mud, and logs of wood, 'which are driven hither by the currents of 
the sea. They are covered with grass and mud, and instead 
of a door have an opening, which is too low to enter without 
stooping. From this opening you ascend by a beam, that serves 
for stairs, into the interior of the hut; where, close by the 
walls, divisions are set apart for each family, and the floors are 
covered with rush-mats, which serve for beds. Every female 
occupies a distinct division, and is mostly busied in making- 
mats, sacks, or baskets, which task she executes wdth amazing 
dexterity. These baskets, &c. are made of the longest blades 
of grass previously dried, and for the finer works, split 
into slips. In this process, she uses no other instrument 
but her fingers: with the nail of her fore-finger, which 
she suffers to grow to a great length, until it is as sharp 
as a lancet, she not only parts the blades of grass, but 
also the sinews of animals, which she twists with her fingers 
alone into a beautifully fine and even thread for sewing their 
clothes. Their needles they make of the bones of fish, large 
or small as the work requires, and fasten their thread to them 
by tying. Whenever they get a steel needle, they immediately 
break off the eye, and rub it on the edge of a stone, till they 
have made a notch, where they can tie the thread in their usual 
way. 
It is w 7 orthy of remark, that the stomachers of these women 
are as beautiflilly shaped and decorated, as if they had been the 
workmanship of a European embroiderer. The stomacher is 
made of the skin of a bird’s neck, stretched and prepared for 
the purpose, and ornamented with silk, or the hair of goats 
and horses interwoven with that of the reindeer, which latter 
appears like rows of small pearls. In a similar manner 
they decorate the holiday dresses, girdles, and caps of their 
husbands. The dress of the men resembles a waggoner’s frock, 
with a high round collar of elk’s skin; it is neatly ornamented 
with goats hair, bordered w'ith a strip of sea-bear’s skin. 
The common dress of the women differs but little from that 
of the men. it has a standing collar, about two inches broad, 
enamelled in various patterns. The front of the dress, and the 
opening of the arms, is trimmed with a row of pearls or coral. 
Their festival dress is similar in shape, but more enamelled, and 
bordered with rows of coral, bird’s beaks, and goat’s hair. 
When they go on the water, they draw over their common 
dress another, made of the entrails of animals sewed together. 
