The winter skins, with the heaviest and longest fur, are seldom used
for clothing if a sufficient supply of the fall and summer skins has
been secured. They are principally used for making what might be called
the mattress of the bed. Sometimes, however, in the severest weather, a
coat made of the heavy skin is worn when the hunter has to sit by a
seal's blow-hole for hours at a time, without the least motion, waiting
for the animal to come up and blow. In cold weather, when out of doors,
he also wears an outside pair of trousers, called see'-ler-par, which
are worn with the hair outside (all trousers are called kok'-e-lee, the
outside see'-ler-par, and the inside ones e'-loo-par). The inside coat
is called an ar-tee'-gee, and is made like a sack, with a tail
attached, and a hood which can be pulled up over the head at pleasure.
The kok'-e-lee are both made with a drawing-string at the waist, and
only reach a short distance below the knee. They are very wide there,
so that when the wearer sits down his bare knee is exposed. This is not
as disagreeable to the wearer, even in that climate, as one would
naturally suppose, but is really more unpleasant for the spectator, for
he not only sees the bare knee but the film of dirt that incases it.
The coats are very loose also, and expose the bare skin of the stomach
when the wearer reaches his hands above his head.
The coats of the women differ from those of the men only in having a
short tail in front, and a much longer one behind. They also have a
loose bag on each shoulder, and the hood is much longer than the men
wear. The women's outside coats are always made of the short hair, the
same as are their ar-tee'-gee. Their trousers reach further below the
knee, fit closer to the leg, and are worn with the hairy side out.
Women never wear but the one pair in any weather. Their stockings and
boots are made with a sort of wing extension at the ankle, and, coming
up over the bottom of the trousers, have a long strip, by which they
are fastened to the belt that also sustains their trousers at the
waist.
To secure the necessary amount of skins for his family taxes the skill
of the best hunter, for they must be secured in the summer and fall.
Each adult requires six skins for his outfit, besides the number for
the bedding. Take, then, an average family of a hunter, two wives and
three children, and he must have for the adults eighteen skins, eleven
for the children, three for his blanket--one blanket is enough for the
entire family to sleep under--and about five for the mattress--a total
of thirty-seven skins. This is more than many of them can secure during
the short season of good fur; but others may kill many more, now that
they are supplied with fire-arms, and those who have a surplus will
always supply the actual needs of the more unfortunate; but often much
suffering occurs before their wants are met.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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