DRESS AND PERSONAL HABITS. 91

Indians was then made of strips of white hair skins, twisted and woven ac- cording to the process described in our chapter on Industries. I know of no material that for warmth can compare with that used by the Hare Indians.

The women’s dress resembled the men’s, except that the summer shirt was somewhat longer and generally accompanied by a petticoat reaching almost to the knees.

As to the leggings, they were of the same material as the upper gar- ment, and descended from the top of the thigh to the ankle, where they met a pair of mocassins of the same soft leather, with tops overlapping around the ankle, to which they were tied by means of buckskin strings. Among the Hares, however, the breeches with footgear attached thereto which were general in the Loucheux iribe were more commonly worn by individuals of both sexes?. If we are to believe Dr. Boas’ informants, the Dénés of Portland Inlet, males and females, also wore skin pants, but with separate mocassins. Everywhere else leggings very generally prevailed. Even where the original leather costume has yielded to dresses made of imported textile fabrics, the leggings have uniformly been retained in the north. To this day the men wear them over their trousers and the women next to the skin. They are now made of some woollen stuff.

The above mentioned articles of wearing apparel were more or less neatly decorated, according to the fancy or skill of one’s wife, sister or mother, as well as the state of one’s personal means, with beadwork or an embroidery of porcupine quills coloured red, black, yellow and white, the connecting material being moose hair of leather thongs spirally arranged. The seams and hems were the usual seats of these ornaments.

Dress of the Western Dénés.

As we come west we find a further alteration in the dress of the Dénés, which is now affected by the proximity of the Pacific coast tribes. The leg- gings are still everywhere in evidence, at least in the winter time, but the upper part of the costume is very often replaced by an ampler sort of robe or blanket worn mantle-wise, as the counterpart of the chief piece of wearing apparel used on the coast. The shirt-like garment is, as in the east, of soft leather reaching generally to the thighs; but, among the Dénés of Portland Inlet, this was in winter made of marmot skins with mittens attached. During the fair season this sort of jacket was often discarded.

The outer garment or blanket was made of skins of beaver, lynx, ground- hog, or even musk-rat. Coverings of woven hare skin strips were also common. These were tied over the shoulders and fastened round the waist by means of a belt of green skin. When of marmot skins, the robe was decorated on the fur side with the tails of the animal, and worn with the hair out, except

1 Monographie des Déné-Dindjig, by Fr. Petitot, p. XXIV.