The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1894-09-26
FURCLAD ESkIMOS.
Seal, Bear and Dog skins Ciothe Both
sexes Almost Exactly Alike.

Seal. Bear and Dog skins Clothe Both
Sexes Almost Exactly Alike.
These Eskimos were the queerest, dirti-
est looking individuals 1 had ever seen.
Clad entirely in furs, they reminded me
more of monkeys than of human beings.
Ikwa, the man, was about feet or 3
inches in height, round as dumping, with
a large, smooth, fat face, in which two
little black eyes, fiat nose and a large ex-
pansive mouth were almost lost. His
coarse black hair was allowed to straggle in
tangles over his face, ears and neck to his
shoulders, without any attempt at arrange
ment 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,
were made to fit TO the figure, cut short at
the hips, and coming to a 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 sealskin
trousers 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 sealskin
trousers were worn only by those men who
were not fortunate enough or able to kill a
bear. In winter these men wear dogskin
trousers, which are as warm as those made
Of bearskin, but not nearly so stylish. Win
ter and summer, the men wear stockings
reaching the knees, made of the fur of the
arctic hare.
At first i thought the woman's dress was
identical with that of the man, and it puZ-
zled me to tell one from the other, but in
day or two | made out the many little
differences in the costumes. The woman,
like the man, wore 'ahtee" and "netcheh," I"
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 a pouch,
extending the entire length Of the back of
the wearer and fitting tight around the
hips In this pouch or hood the baby is
carried Its little body, covered only by u
shirt reaching to the waist, made of the
skin Of young blue fox, is placed against
the bare back of the mother, and the head,
covered by a tight fitting skullcap made of
sealskin, is allowed to rest against the
mothers shoulder.
In 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 years. Then it is clothed i'll skins,
exactly like the father If it is a boy, or like
the mother If girl, and allowed to toddle
about. II it is the youngest member Of the
family, after it has learned to walk it takes
its place in its mothers hood whenever it
is sleepy or tired, just as American mothers
Iick up their little toddlers and rock them.
The woman's trousers, or "nanookies,' are
made of foxskin, and are hardly anything
more than trunks" These are met by the
long legged boots, or "kamiks," made OF
tanned sealskin, and the long stockings, oil
"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 il
was the skin of some animal in America
Mrs Peary's journal.