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The Footed Trouser
Ancestors of today’s Subarctic Athapaskans, the Gwich’in, made caribou and moose hides into two piece outfits. They wore a sleeved shirt (for men) or a dress (for women) with a combination moccasin-trouser in which the foot section forms part of the garment. The soft-bottom, hide foot of the lower garment suited travel in birch bark canoes and protected against cold and insects at different times of the year.
Compare this Gwich’in beaded caribou skin shirt and moccasin-trousers from about 1840 to 1890 to the 1847 sketch by Alexander Hunter Murray depicting Gwich’in women and children. These garments also look like the one worn by the Ingalik man in the 1880 photograph.
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