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lynx, beaver, and mountain goat. Fort McLeod natives speak of loon-
skin shirts among the neighbouring Carrier Indians of Stuart lake, but
deny their use by any Sekani band.

In cold weather both sexes threw over the shirt a rectangular robe
(tsede’) of groundhog or woven rabbit skins, fastening it over one shoulder
and drawing it in at the waist with a belt. Some of the best hunters had
robes of marten fur, but they disappeared as soon as marten fur became
commercially valuable. The groundhog robe, though no longer worn on
the person, survives as a sleeping robe or covering for a bed. An average
specimen 5 feet by 6 feet, such as that shown in Plate V, contains about
twenty-four skins arranged in parallel rows, trimmed to fit and sometimes
roughly matched for colour.

Leggings (esle) were generally of caribou hide. Those of the men
reached to the thighs, and the narrowed upper ends tucked into the belt;
but women’s leggings barely reached the knees.

Moccasins (ke) were generally made of moose or caribou hide, but
sometimes of the more lasting beaver skin. The Sekani of the Parsnip
and Finlay River basins wore inside them socks of groundhog or rabbit may
but the Long Grass people are said to have made the feet of double thick-
ness and dispensed with socks. Five pairs of moose-hide moccasins col-
tected at McLeod lake and at Fort Grahame in 1924 all conform to exactly
the same pattern (Plate VI). They are of three pieces, a bottom or foot,
a tongue, and an ankle flap. A T-shaped seam runs up the back from
below the heel, and a straight seam from the bottom of the tongue to a
little under the toes. The rounded tongue extends down to about the base
of the toes, and its visible edge is outlined with two rather fine strands
of coloured horse-hair, substituted for the older moose-hair or porcupine
quills. Overlying the tongue is a false tongue, in two specimens of smoked
moose-hide, in the other three of coloured cloth; on this are floral designs
worked in beads or silk. A band of coloured cloth conceals the seam uniting
the fiap with the bottom piece. This flap, which extends about half-way up
the leg, is kept in position by two rawhide laces whose ends are sewn (in
one case knotted through a hole) on each side of the moccasin about the
junction of flap, tongue, and bottom piece. Most of the sewing has been
done with sinew, but the cloth is attached with cotton thread.

In winter both sexes wore round caps (tsa’) of various furs, beaver,
marten, fisher, groundhog, etc. Among the Long Grass Indians half a
century ago the caps of the women were shaped like bonnets, fitting around
the neck, whereas men’s caps, made of beaver skin or from the paws of the
lynx, merely covered the top of the head; whether this applied also to the
main Sekani bands I do not know. A man who had acquired “ medicine
power” through some animal often wore a cap made from its fur, especially
when going to war; or he would attach to his cap the tail of the animal,
or a tail feather from his bird “ medicine,” to ensure good luck.

Mittens (bat), like other parts of the costume, were of various skins,
that of the moose being preferred. The majority are now stitched with