94.—ESQUIMAUX WINTER ENCAMPMENT.
[Fig. 96] represents, according to Doctor Kane, the chief of an Esquimaux tribe.
Doctor Hayes, in his “Journey to the Open Sea of the North Pole,” published in 1866, has described the Esquimaux type. A broad face, heavy jaws, prominent cheek bones, a narrow forehead, small eyes of a deep black, thin long lips, with two narrow rows of sound teeth, jet-black hair, a little of it on the upper lip and on the chin; small in stature but stoutly built, and a robust constitution of a vigorous kind; such are the distinguishing characteristics of the people of the far north.
The Esquimaux style of dress seemed, to the learned traveller, pretty much the same for both sexes; a pair of boots, stockings, mittens, trousers, a waistcoat, and an overcoat. The father-in-law of one of his travelling companions wore boots of bearskin coming up to the knee, whilst those of his wife reached much higher, and were made of seal leather. Their trousers were made of sealskin, their stockings of dogskin, their mittens of sealskin, and their waistcoat of kidskin with the fur inside.
95.—ESQUIMAUX VILLAGE.
The overcoat, made of the skin of the blue fox, does not open in front, but is put on like a shirt. It ends in a hood covering the head like the cowl of a monk. The women cut their coat to a point, in order to confine their hair, which they gather together on the top of the head, and tie up in a knot as close and as hard as a stone, by means of untanned straps of sealskin. This is shown in [fig. 93].