Their clothes are, for the most part, made of rein deer and seal skin,
as also of bird’s skin nicely dressed and prepared. The men’s habits are
a coat or jacket, with a cap or hood sewed to it, to cover the head and
shoulders, in the fashion of a domino, or monk’s hood. This coat reaches
down to the knees. Their breeches are very small, not coming above their
loins, that they may not hinder them in getting into their small boats.
And as they wear no linen, the hair of the skins the coat is made of is
turned inward to keep them warm. Over this coat they put on a large
frock, made of seal skin dressed and tanned, without hair, in order to
keep the water out; and thus they are dressed when they go to sea.
Between the leathern frock and the under coat they wear a linen shirt,
or, for want of linen, made of seal’s guts; which also helps to keep out
the water from the under coat. Of late they appear sometimes in more
gaudy dresses, as shirts made of striped linen, and coats and breeches
of red and blue stuffs, or cloth, which they buy of ours, or the Dutch
merchants, but fashioned after their own way; in these they make parade
and feast, when they keep holidays on shore. The stockings they wore
formerly were made of rein deer, or seal’s skin, but now they like
better our sort of worsted stockings, of different colours, white, blue,
and red, which they buy of us. Their shoes and boots are made of seal’s
skins, red or yellow, well dressed and tanned; they are nicely wrought,
with folds behind and before, without heels, and fit well upon the
foot[33].
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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