A long time ago, an Eskimo boy named Papik lived in a tiny village on
Baffin Island. All winter his home was a round little house built of
snow, out on top of the frozen sea.
Papik was warm and comfortable in his snow house, and outdoors he kept
warm, too. He looked all bundled up in his clothes made of animal
skins, but his winter suit was really lighter and softer than yours.
[Illustration]
It was easy for Papik to get dressed. First he pulled on his pants made
of baby sealskin, with the soft, white hair on the inside. Next he
put on his deerskin stockings and his slippers of bird-skin with the
feathers inside. Over these he drew a second slipper of sealskin and
his waterproof sealskin boots.
[Illustration: ~Papik wore these clothes in winter. His mother sewed
good luck charms into them.~]
Finally Papik slipped his jacket over his head. He even had his cap on
because it was made right into his jacket.
Papik didn't have to fuss with buttons or zippers. He just tied an
animal-skin thong around each leg to hold the tops of his boots up. Now
he was dressed in his underclothes--which were also his summer outfit.
To go outdoors in winter, he put on an extra pair of pants and an extra
jacket made of deerskin with the hair outside. These, with deerskin
boots and mittens, were all the clothes he needed for a trip out over
the ice with his father.
[Illustration: ~His mother's jacket was extra large so she could carry
his baby brother inside it on her back.~]
Each mitten looks as if it had two thumbs--and it had. Papik's mother
made them that way so that he could turn them around without taking
them off and wear them backwards if he got one side wet.
Papik's sister Milak wore clothes almost exactly like his. The grownups
did, too. When white men came to the Arctic, they found Eskimo clothes
were better for winter there than anything else that could be made.
[Illustration: ~Eskimos lighted their lamps by striking sparks from
stones called flint and pyrite.~]