Fig. 507. Qaturang or boot ornament. (Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin. IV A 6850.)
Fig. 509. Ivory beads for women’s jackets, a (Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin. IV A 6841) b, c (National Museum, Washington. 34134.) 1/1
The jacket does not open in front, but is drawn over the head. It has a hood fitting closely to the head. The back and the front are made of a sealskin each. The hood of the Oqomiut is sharply pointed, while that of the Akudnirmiut is more rounded. The jackets are cut straight and have a slit in front. Some have a short tail behind, particularly the winter jackets. The cut of the winter clothing, which is made of deerskin, is the same as the former, and it is frequently trimmed with straps of deerskin. The jacket is rarely worn with the hood down, as it is only used while hunting and traveling. It is never brought into the huts, but after being cleaned from the adhering snow with the snowbeater (tiluqtung, as named by the eastern tribes; arautaq, as called by Hudson Bay tribes) is kept in the storeroom outside the house.
The women’s trousers are composed of two pieces. The upper one fits tightly and covers the upper half of the thigh. It is made of the skin of a deer’s belly. The other parts are, as it were, leggings, which reach from a little below the knee to the middle of the thigh and are kept in place by a string running to the upper part of the trousers. The women’s jacket (Fig. 508) is much more neatly trimmed than that of the men. It is frequently adorned with ivory or brass beads running round the edge (Fig. 509). It has a wide and large hood reaching down almost to the middle of the body. In front the jacket has a short appendage; behind, a very long tail which trails along the ground (see Fig. 508). If a child is carried in the hood, a leather girdle fastened with a buckle (Fig. 510) is tied around the waist and serves to prevent the child from slipping down. The first specimen given in Fig. 510 is remarkable for its artistic design.
Fig. 510. Girdle buckles.
a, c, d (Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin.)
b (National Museum, Washington. 34125.) 1/1