Ethnological results of the Point Barrow expedition: Ninth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1887-1888, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1892, pages 3-442Murdoch, John
History
Ethnological results of the Point Barrow expedition: Ninth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1887-1888, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1892, pages 3-442
Murdoch, John
Eskimos -- Alaska -- Barrow, Point, Region
_Pantaloons (kûmûñ)._--The women and children, and occasionally the
men, wear pantaloons (strictly speaking), i.e., tight-fitting trousers
continuous with the foot covering. Of the two pairs of pantaloons in
the collection, No. 74042 [1792] (Fig. 72) will serve as the type. The
shoes with sealskin moccasin soles and deerskin uppers are sewed at
the ankles to a pair of tight-fitting deerskin trousers, reaching
above the hips and higher behind than in front. Pattern (diagram, Fig.
73_a_): Each leg is composed of four long pieces (front 1, outside 2,
back 3, and inside 4), five gussets (one on the thigh 5, and four on
the calf, 6, 6, 6, 6), which enlarges the garment to fit the swell of
the calf and thigh and the half-waistband (7). The two legs are put
together by joining the edges _d d d_ of the opposite legs and sewing
the gusset (8) into the space in front with its base joined to the
edges _e e_ of the two legs. The sole of each shoe is a single piece
of white tanned sealskin with the grain side out, bent up about 1¼
inches all round the foot, rounded at the toe and heel and broadest
across the ball of the foot. The toe and heel are “gathered” into
shape by crimping the edge vertically. A space of about 3½ inches is
left uncrimped on each side of the foot. (The process of crimping
these soles will be described under the head of boots and shoes, where
it properly belongs). Around the top of this sole is sewed a narrow
band of white sealskin, sewed “over and over” on the edge of the
uncrimped space, but “run” through the gathers at the ends, so as to
draw them up. The upper is in two pieces (heel, 9, and toe, 10). The
heel piece is folded round the heel, and the toe piece doubled along
the line _f_, and the curved edges _g g_ joined to the straight edges
_h h_, which makes the folded edge _f_, fit the outline of the instep.
The bottom is then cut off accurately to fit the sole and sewed to the
edge of the band. The trousers and shoes are sewed together at the
ankles. The whole is made of the short-haired skin from the deer’s
legs. Pieces 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, and 10 are of dark brown skin (10 put on
so that the tuft of coarse hair on the deer’s ankle comes on the
outside of the wearer’s ankle), while the remaining pieces are white,
making a pleasing pattern of broad stripes. The inner edge of 5 is
piped with dark brown fawnskin, and a round piece of white skin is
inserted at the bottom of 2. No. 56748 [136] is a pair of pantaloons
of nearly the same pattern (see diagram, Fig. 73_b_) and put together
in a similar way. These pantaloons have soles of sealskin with the
hair left on and worn inside, and are made of deer leg skin, wholly
dark brown, except the gussets on the calf, which are white. There is
a piece of white skin let out, 2, as before, and the ankle tuft is in
the same position.
[Illustration: FIG. 72.--Woman’s pantaloons.]
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