Page:Archæology of the Central Eskimos.djvu/440

frozen, and sometimes roasted with blubber between flat stones. Hardly any vegetables were eaten; there were no berries. Blood was an important drink. The Sadlermiut never learned to smoke tobacco.

High Cairns^[1] were built for drying and storing meat; they were broadest at the top — the characteristic mushroom-shaped stone erections which have previously been described from Kuk. Salmon, birds, caribou meat, etc. were hung up to dry in large, hollow, cone-shaped stone buildings, similar in shape to tower-traps, for which they were also often used in winter, whilst in summer they were meat depôts; these stone buildings have also been referred to at Kuk; they are two or three metres high and a similar diameter at the base.

The clothing greatly resembled that of the Polar Eskimos; fig. 92 shows two men, fig. 93 a woman, both from the photographs by Capt. John Murray, the owner of the Scottish station at Cape Low, who has very kindly lent them to us.

The outer frock of the men, of bear, caribou or seal skin, was cut straight at the bottom, only about 10 cm longer at the back than at the front, with no vent at the back or the sides; the hood was small, ended in a point at the back and did not stand out in front of the head like that of the Aiviliks. Saorre said that he had seen frocks which were not as usual seamed at the sides but at the front by means of a central seam on the breast, where the belly of the caribou formed a white stripe. For the under frock the men used caribou or bear skins with the hair inwards, often the skins of young bears. Bear, caribou and dog skins, in summer sealskin, were used for mittens. The men always wore bearskin trousers, preferably of young bears, as those of the older animals were too stiff and uncomfortable. At the sides the trousers only reached just over the hips, at the front not even so far; they had a special small bag for the penis. At the bottom the trousers extended to a little below the knee, where they were rather narrow; no suspenders or cord were used to hold them up, they simply hung on the hips. Only one pair of trousers was used and very often the stiff skin caused chafing sores on the thighs; to remedy this the trousers were often greased inside with blubber. In winter, boots were used with feet of sealskin and leg of seal or young bear skin, with the hair outside; in summer sealskin boots; the stockings were of young seal skin, more rarely of caribou, fox or dog skin. Owing to the stony ground the boots always had to have double soles; the boot laces were fastened in the same manner as those of the Aiviliks. Sometimes a sandal of bearded sealskin, dried to the shape of the foot, was fastened on outside the boot.