DRESS AND PERSONAL HABITS. 97

by what, to people of more refined moral sense, would be an awkward pre-
dicament. Young children were formerly left without any covering for quite
a few years after they could walk by themselves. At the present time boys
under five or six years of age wear buttonless breeches which are open be-
fore and behind, and nobody seems to mind the inconveniences which this
particularity causes to modest eyes. The native mothers are pruder in con-
nection with children of their own sex.

Generally, the women did not wear breech-clouts. The aprons or petti-
coats in which they were dressed allowed them to dispense with these. It
would seem, however, that, among the primitive Slave or Dog-Rib females a
desideratum in this respect was noticed by Mackenzie, who writes that they
“have no covering on their private parts, except a tassel of leather which
dangles from a small cord, as it appears, to keep off the flies, which would
otherwise be very troublesome”,

In the north especially, the Dénés’ lack of cleanliness is on a par with
the natural bluntness of their sense of propriety as we understand it. All the
explorers have expatiated on the slovenly habits and resulting filthiness of
the northeastern tribes. All things considered, much of this may be laid at
the doors of their wretched condition under the unsparing climes of the north
and the necessity of attending, first, to the struggle for life which, in their
desolate land, is certainly no figure of speech. Yet, it cannot be gainsaid that
the fact that they slept in their daily dresses and never washed them was
responsible for a state of dirtiness which pleased neither the eyes nor the
olfactory organ. Their fine leathern costume once donned was never laid aside
until out of use, and it soon acquired a dingy look and an odour which was
perceived from quite a distance. If we add to this the continual manipulation
of grease, bones and marrow, joined to other unmentionable operations which
were necessities of their daily lives, we will get some idea of the state to
which the finest dress was soon reduced.

Another consequence of this uncleanliness was the acquisition and pro-
pagation of vermin. This, however, did not trouble them in the least. When
idle by the fireside, they would slothfully hunt for it and crunch it with relish.
This habit, repugnant as it is to our feelings, is still in honour amongst them,
and of a sunny day nothing is more common than to see, for instance, two
females ridding the heads of one another of those parasites. Ridding, did
I say. This is not the proper word, for the obliged party is the active, not
he passive, one. De gustibus non est disputandum!

Washing and Personal Habits.

In the south, perhaps because the women are not condemned to such a
life of universal drudgery as in the north, washing was often practised. When

‘ Op. cit., vol. I, p. 245.