The apparel worn by the Ungava Indians is quite distinct for the
different sexes. The method of preparing the skins for the manufacture
of garments is the same, but the forms of the garments for the sexes are
so different as to require special consideration.
The garments worn by the men differ somewhat according to the season of
the year, for the extremes of climate are very great. The clothing of
the men consists of a coat, breeches, leggings, moccasins, gloves or
mittens, and cap or headdress.
[Illustration: FIG. 88.--Indian buckskin coat, man's (back).]
The coat consists of the skins of the reindeer tanned into a thoroughly
pliable condition by the process to be described presently.
The shape of the garment worn in summer (Figs. 87 and 88) is somewhat
similar to that of a frock coat, but without the tails. The back is cut
from a single skin and the skirt cut up from below. Into this is
inserted a piece of sufficient width to allow movement of the lower
limbs. The sides are from the second skin, split down the middle of the
back and sewed to the skin, forming the back of the garment. The back
skin forms the covering for the top of the shoulders and extends to the
collar seam. The side skins form the front and neck of the garment. The
sleeves are made of a third skin, and frequently have a roll or cuff to
increase the length, if necessary. The collar is merely a strip of skin
sewed to the neck. It is usually turned down. The front is usually open,
and if made to be closed it is held in position by a belt or gaudily
colored scarf of woolen or cotton purchased from the trader.
[Illustration: FIG. 89.--Detail of pattern painted on Indian
garments.]
The seams of the clothing are always sewed with sinew like that used by
the Eskimo. There are but two seams which run the entire length of the
coat, and these are the side seams. The seam at the skirt, the armhole,
sleeve, and collar are the shorter ones. The coat is always more or less
ornamented with extravagant painted designs. The colors and other
materials used for painting these designs will be described in another
connection, as well as the manner of applying them.
[Illustration: FIG. 90.--Detail of pattern printed on deerskin
robe.]
The patterns of these designs will be best understood by reference to
the figures, which show some of them in detail (Figs. 89, 90).
The colors used often present startling combinations of red, blue,
yellow, and brown. The portions of the garments upon which these colors
are placed are the front edges of the opening of the coat, the wrists,
and rings around the arms or sleeves, the skirt and pyramid-shaped
designs over the hips. The piece intended to widen the skirt behind is
always entirely covered with a design of some kind. Over the outside of
the seams a line of paint is always applied, nearly always of a red or
brown color.
Frequently a series of quadrate blotches or squares produced by
variously colored lines runs from the apex of the piece inserted in the
skirt to the collar.
[Illustration: FIG. 91.--Indian buckskin leggings.]
The length of the coat is such as to reach to the middle of the thigh.
The coverings for the lower limbs and for the hips are quite distinct.
For the hips the garment is a sort of breeches of which the legs are so
short as only to cover the upper portion of the thigh. The breeches are
held in place by means of a drawstring in front.
A pair of these breeches is never ornamented with paint, as they are
usually not exposed to view.
A pair of leggings extends from the upper portion of the thigh to the
ankles. The leggings (Fig. 91) are each made of a single piece somewhat
in the form of a narrow bag open at each end. They are held in position
by means of a string attached in front and fastened to the upper
portions of the breeches. The seam is on the outer side of the leggings
and along it is sewed a strip of deerskin having the edges cut into
fringe. The leggings are painted in much the same fashion as the coat.
The moccasins (Fig. 92) are rarely ornamented, except with beads on the
tongue or else with a strip of red, blue, or black cloth.
[Illustration: FIG. 92.--Indian moccasins.]
In the construction of a moccasin the measure of the foot is taken if it
is intended for a person of importance or if the maker attempts to do
skillful work. The sole is cut out first in the shape of a
parallelogram. The edges are turned up and creases made around that
portion of the deerskin which surrounds the toes and a part of the side
of the foot. The creases are made perpendicular in order to take up a
portion of the slack of the skin. They are held in position by a stout
sinew thread run through each one and around to the other side to
prevent them from separating and thus "bagging" over the toes. This is
the most particular part of the work and on these stitches depend the
skill of the maker. The sides of the foot and heel are not creased as
the heel-seam takes up the slack for the posterior portion of the
moccasin.
The tongue of the moccasin is a piece cut into a shape resembling that
member with the tip of it over the toes. This is sewed to the edges of
the creases, and between it and the creases is often sewed a narrow welt
of skin or cloth. The superfluous edges of the slipper-shaped shoe are
now trimmed off, and the top, or portion to cover the ankle, is sewed
on. This portion is a long narrow strip of inferior skin of sufficient
size to overlap in front and to come well above the ankles. It is left
open like the tops of laced shoes. Just below, or at the edge of the
tops, a long thong of deerskin is inserted through several holes, which
allows it to pass around the heel and below the ankles, bringing the
ends in front over the tongue. The ends of the tops are laid carefully
over one another and wrapped round by the ends of the thongs which hold
the moccasins on the feet.
Certain portions of the skin make better footwear than other parts. The
neck skin is too thick and stiff to allow the creases around the toes to
be properly made; the flanks are too thin; while the neck is useful for
the tongues, the sides for the bottoms, and the flanks and portions of
the back, scarred by the grubs infesting the animal, for the tops and
strings.
Moccasins for young children often have a seam parallel with the toes
and the creasing is thus obviated. Those for wearing in the tent or in
the dry vicinity of the camp have no tops and are held to the foot by
means of a drawstring.
As most of the strain in walking comes upon the tongue, and this portion
is usually ornamented, it is necessary that it should be of a good
quality of leather. A piece of black, blue, or red cloth is generally
laid over the tongue for ornament. There is sometimes bead work on this
portion, but as these people are not skillful in the art of disposing
the many colored beads they are not much used for that purpose.
A single deerskin will make five to seven pairs of moccasins for an
adult, and as they last but two or three weeks as many as fifteen to
twenty-five pairs are necessary for each adult.
[Illustration: FIG. 93.--Indian mittens.]
The hands are protected with mittens (Fig. 93) made of smoked deerskin.
The skin is folded, and along the fold the shape of the mitten is cut so
as to leave a part by which the two pieces are joined, and the edges
formed in the cutting are sewed together. The thumb is made as follows:
A tongue-shaped piece is cut out of the palm and the base of that piece
is left as the part to form the under or inner covering for the thumb.
A piece is now trimmed that will fit the place cut out and the two parts
sewed together.
The thumb of the Indian is, as a rule, shorter than that of the white
man, and a pair of native-made mittens are quite uncomfortable until the
thumb portion has been recut and sewed. The wrists of the mittens are
often gaudily ornamented with strips of red or black cloth. Designs of
simple character, such as lines and cross lines producing lattice-work
figures, are frequently painted on the back of the mitten. Beads in rows
and zigzag lines ornament the wrist, and strands of beads are pendant
from the outside seams. The strands are often tipped with tassels of
variegated woolen threads. The mittens intended for severe weather are
often lined with the thin skin of a foetal reindeer, which has short,
soft hair. Great exertion often causes the hands to perspire and moisten
the hair, and this freezes the instant the mitten is removed from the
hand, and is liable to freeze the fingers within it.
[Illustration: FIG. 94.--Beaded headband. Nenenot.]
The head-dress of the men for the summer is often a large cotton
handkerchief wound turban-fashion around the head to prevent the long
hair from blowing over the face. These handkerchiefs are of the most
gaudy patterns, and if they are not worn a simple thong of deerskin
serves the purpose. The girls and newly married wives often make bands
of beads, some of which are quite attractively designed, for their
lovers or husbands. These bands are about an inch wide and several
inches long. The ends are lengthened with strips of skin. The band is
placed over the forehead and tied by the strings behind. These headbands
are generally the most intricate designs of bead work which these
Indians display (Fig. 94).
A cap of deerskin is often worn, but it always seems to be in the way,
and is used mostly in wet weather. A piece of stiff deerskin is
sometimes made into the shape of a visor of a cap and worn over the eyes
during the spring when the glare of the sun on the snow produces such
distressing inflammation of the eyes. It is fastened to the head by
means of straps tied behind. The greater part of the men prefer to go
without head covering. Some who are able and love a display of fancy
colors have a cap made of red cloth and ornamented with beads worked
into extravagant patterns. The cap is a high conical affair, and from
the weight of beads upon it often falls to one side of the head.
The winter coat (Figs. 95, 96) worn by the males is of different pattern
from that worn in summer, and is made of skins with the hair inside.
Two skins, one of which forms the back of the coat the other the front,
are sewed by side seams running from the armpit to the bottom of the
skirt. On the shoulder a seam runs to the neck on each side, the back
skin extending high enough to form the neck while the other skin reaches
to the neck in front. Here it is slightly cut out or slit for a distance
of several inches to allow the insertion of the head through the neck
hole.
Sometimes a =V=-shaped piece is inserted into the slit at the front of
the neck. To widen the skirts a similar shaped piece is let into the
middle of the back skin; or it may be put between the side seams for the
same purpose. The bottom of the skirt is decorated. (Fig. 97.)
[Illustration: FIG. 95.--Man's winter coat (front).]
At the back of the neck a piece about 8 inches square is attached to the
garment. This sometimes serves as a collar, and sometimes it gives
additional protection by a double thickness to the shoulders, very often
the first part to feel the effect of the piercing winds.
A few of the coats for winter have a hood attached to them (Fig. 98, 99)
sewed on the back of the neck, which when drawn over the head serves at
once as cap and protection.
The collar and hood are invariably made from the skins on the sides of
the head of the deer. If two or more head skins are required they are
sewed into the form of the deer's head. The collar is ornamented with
fringes cut from the edges of the skin. Sometimes the interscapular
protection is cut into three or four points, each one of which is the
cheek skin of a deer, and sewed only a portion of the length, the
remainder being left free and terminating with a series of long strands
or fringes. The sleeves of these garments have nothing peculiar about
them.
As the Indian is always in the vicinity of the herds of deer it is an
easy matter for him to obtain the skins when in best condition, and from
the finer skins superior garments are made. The shape of the Indian's
coat is not so well adapted to afford protection as that of the Eskimo;
hence, the white men in this region invariably adopt the clothing of the
latter in cold weather.
[Illustration: FIG. 96.--Man's winter coat (back).]
Indians eagerly accept any cast off garment which a white man has worn,
and they often procure the clothing offered for trade. Trousers are in
much demand. Coats are deemed great prizes, especially in the wet
seasons when the moisture would certainly ruin their own clothing by
causing the hair to fall off or totally destroy the shape of the tanned
skin garments. For underclothing the Indian man uses an additional suit
of ordinary clothing or else dons a shirt procured from the trader.
Drawers are rarely worn.
[Illustration: FIG. 97.--Detail of ornamentation.]
That these people are little susceptible to the effects of cold may be
inferred from the fact that I have seen them come to the trading post of
Fort Chimo in the middle of winter when the thermometer had not
registered higher than 20° below zero for weeks, with no protection for
their legs except a pair of old buckskin leggings so short that the
bottom did not reach within 3 or 4 inches of the dilapidated moccasins.
The feet were, so far as could be ascertained, chiefly protected by a
wrapping of old baling cloth covered with a pair of moccasins which no
white man would have been seen wearing. I observed also that no
additional clothing was purchased for the return trip.
[Illustration: FIG. 98.--Man's winter coat, with hood.]
The garments worn by the women in the warmer season consists of thin
dresses of calico purchased from the traders. Thin shawls serve to
protect the head and shoulders. The feet are incased in moccasins. Some
of the women are able to purchase dresses of cloth, and these are cut
into a semblance of the dresses worn by the women of civilized
countries. It is not rare to see a woman wearing a skirt made from the
tanned skin of the deer. The lower portions of the skirt are often
fancifully ornamented with lines and stripes of paint of various colors,
extending entirely around the garment. A piece of baling cloth is often
fashioned into a skirt and worn.
The females appear to be less susceptible to the sudden changes of the
summer weather than the men. At least they exhibit less concern about
the thickness of their apparel. It is not unusual to see a woman whose
only clothing appears to be a thin dress of calico. During the winter
the women dress in the most comfortable skins (Fig. 100), blankets,
shawls, comforts, leggings, and moccasins. During exceptionally severe
weather, they appear as traveling wardrobes, doubtless carrying their
all on their back, and in some instances presenting a most comical
appearance as, loaded with clothing of most miscellaneous character,
they waddle over the snow. The winter cap is similar to that worn by the
men, but is not so peaked. It is an object on which they expend a great
amount of labor. The material is usually a kind of cloth locally known
as Hudson bay cloth, either red, dark blue, light blue, or black. The
caps of the men and women are usually made from the better grades of
this cloth, while the dresses of the women and the leggings of the men
are of the inferior grades.
If the cap is to be all one color, in which case it is always red, the
cloth is cut in two pieces only, and put together so as to produce a
cup-shape. Sometimes five or six pieces are cut from two or three
different colors of cloth and the strips sewed together. Over the seams
white tape is sewed to set off the colors. In the center of the strip is
a rosette, cross, or other design worked with beads, and around the rim
rows of beads variously arranged.
[Illustration: FIG. 99.--Man's winter coat, with hood.]
The body is covered with a heavy robe made of two deerskins sewed
together. This robe is often plain, and when ornamented designs are
painted only on the bottom of the skirt. These robes are always of skins
with the hair on. The flesh side is often rubbed with red ocher while
the extreme edge may be painted with a narrow stripe of the same mixed
with the viscid matter obtained from the roe of a species of fish. The
edge stripe of paint is always of a darker brown than the other colors
from the admixture of that substance with the earth.
This garment is put upon the body in a manner impossible to describe and
difficult to understand even when witnessed. It is held together by
small loops of sinew or deerskin. A belt around the waist keeps it up.
The women also wear in winter a sleeveless gown reaching little below
the knees and as high as the chin. The sleeves are put on separately,
like leggings. They are usually made of red or black cloth.
The gown is often extravagantly decorated with paint. The flesh side of
the skin is rubbed with red ocher, on which are painted in describable
designs. A strip of deerskin dotted with beads borders the gown, and
from the edge of the strip hang strings of these ornaments, terminating
in variously colored tassels of thread.
[Illustration: FIG. 100.--Nenenot woman in full winter dress.]
The leggings of the women differ from those of the men. They extend
higher and the bottoms cover the tops of the moccasins. They are made of
skin or cloth, the latter black or red. To cut out a pair of leggings
requires skill. The cloth is doubled and then cut nearly in a circular
form. A size sufficient to fit the limb is sewed up leaving the
crescent-shaped remainder a flapping ornament. The "wings" are often
edged with cloth of a different color and on the outer border rows of
beads complete the decoration. The two crescents are left free, and as
the wind separates them they flap most fantastically. They are always
worn so as to be on the outer side of the legs. The bottoms of the
leggings are heavily loaded with numerous rows of fancy beads.
Moccasins are alike for both sexes.
As additional protection from cold the shoulders are covered with a
mantle of soft skins from young deer. Blankets purchased from the
traders are also sometimes thrown over the shoulders or around the
waist.
Children are clad like adults, excepting that their apparel is less
carefully made and they often present a disgusting appearance, with
their clothing glazed with filth and glistening with vermin.
Infants usually have their garments made in the "combination" form.
The cap forms a separate piece and is fitted so closely that it is not
removed until the growth of the head bursts the material of which the
cap is made.
When traveling men and women smoke or snuff a good deal. Tobacco and a
few other necessary articles are carried in a bag known as "fire bag."
These are made of cloth and trimmed with beads, and are often quite
tastefully ornamented.
The detailed figures which I have presented show much better than any
description the designs used in ornamenting their clothing. Some of the
patterns are rude copies of the designs found upon cheap handkerchiefs,
scarfs, and other printed fabrics.
[Illustration: FIG. 101.--Sealskin headband. Nenenot.]
I have already spoken of the headbands worked for the men by their wives
and sweethearts. Such a headband, made of sealskin procured from the
Eskimo, is shown in Fig. 101 (No. 3449). The headband is used to support
the weight of a load carried on the back, relieving the strain on the
shoulders and making it easier to breathe. The band passes over the
forehead to the back, where it is attached to the load. Various forms of
these headbands or portage straps are made. Sometimes a piece of birch
bark is placed under the strap where it touches the forehead. It is said
that the bark does not become wet from the moisture induced by the
severe exertion and thus burn the head.
[Illustration: FIG. 102.--Skin scraper (front). Nenenot.]
[Illustration: FIG. 103.--Skin scraper (back). Nenenot.]