Daily Kennebec journal., 1894-01-16
FuRcLkD EsklMos.


Seal, Bear anu Dog SAIus SAoNuS DOs"
Sexes Almost Exactly Alike.
Tl,,se Eskimos were the queerest. dirti
est looking individuals | had ever SEEN
Clad entirely in furs, they reminded me
more of monkeys than of human beings
Ikwa. the man, was about feet or .
inches in height, Sound as dumping, with
a large. smooth. fat face, in which Two
little black eyes, fiat nose and large ex
pansive mouth were almost lost. his
coarse black hair was allowed to straggle III
tangles over his face, ears and neck TO Ms
shoulders, without any attempt at arrange
meIt or order. His body was covered with
a garment made of birdskins. called by
the natives ''ahtee," the feathers worn next
the body, and outside Of this garment
made of sealskin with the fur on the out
side called ''netcheh."
These garments, patterned exactly alike,
we're made 10 fit TO the figure, cut short at
the hips. and coming to point back and
front; close fitting hood was sewed TO the
neck OF each garment and invariably
pulled over his head when he was out OF
doors. His legs were covered with sealskln
troreer3 or 'nanookies," reaching just be
low the knees, where they were met by the
tanned sealskin boots, called by the natives
"kamiks." We learned later that sealskln
trousers were worn only by those men who
were not fortunate enough or able to kill
bear. In winter these men wear oo2skln
trousers, which are as warm as those made
of bearsllin, but not nearly SO styilsh. WIN
ter and summer, the men wear stockings
reaching the knees, made of the fur OF the
arctic hare.
At first thought the woman's 5 dress was
identical with that of the man. and 1t puz
Zled me to tell one from the other, but I'D
q day or two | made out the many little
differences in the costumes The woman
ike the man. wore ''ahtee'' and "netcheh,"
made respectively of the birdskin and seal
skin. They differed in pattern from those
of the man only in the back, where an eX-
ira width is sewed in, which forms IA pouch,
extending the entire length Of the back OF
the wearer and fitting tight around the
hiDs. In this pouch or hood the baby is
carried. Its little body, covered only by
shirt reaching to the waist, made of the
skin of u young blue fox, is placed against
the bare back Of the mother, and the head,
covered by tight fitting skullcap made OF
sealskin is allowed to rest against the
mothers shoulder.
Iu this way the Eskimo child is carried
constantly, whether awake or asleep, and
without clothing except the shirt and cap,
until it can walk, which is usually at the
age of 2 wears. Then it is clothed in SKINS
exactly like the father if it is Il boy, or like
the mother If a girl, and allowed to toddle
about. If it is the youngest member of the
family, after it has learned to walk it takes
it's place in its mothers hood whenever 1t
is sleepy or tired, just as American mothers
ticll up their little toddlers and rock them.
The woman's trousers, or ''nanookies, =" are
made of foxsiiin, and are hardly anything
more than trunks" These are met by the
Icng legged boots, or 'kami.s,' made OF
tanned sealskin, and the lcng stockings, or
"allahsy,' of reindeer fur. Altogether this
family appeared fully as strange to US as
we did to them. They had never before
seen woven material and could not seem to
understand the texture, insisting that it
was the skin Of some animal in America
Mrs, Peary' S Journal.