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wool ;
the
Introductory
foot has the additional protection of leather or
partially dressed skins.
In 1883, when visiting the Ethnological Museum at
Copenhagen, it was most curious and interesting to see
in one of the glass cases a life-sized model, in wood or
plaster, which professed to be an exact representation of
the first Eskimo woman ever brought to Denmark—about
sixty years previously. This figure bears a wonderful like-
ness in every respect to the type of the women of the
Spiti valley, and it was impossible to help exclaiming, " That
is a woman from Spiti, but she is dressed in skins instead
of in cloth garments."
Supposing, too, any ot the natives of Spiti to have
wandered thus far, Greenland would be a climate which
might suit them. When, on leaving Spiti, we reached
Darcha in the Lahaul valley, though this place is at an
altitude of 12,500 feet, our whole staff of coolies, whom we
had hoped to take with us a couple of marches (days) more,
bolted back to their own country at 3 a.m., saying it was
so hot they could not bear it an hour longer.
Whilst we are on the subject of the great similarity in
dress and appearance between people inhabiting different
continents, it may not be out of place to remark that the
above is not a solitary example as far as the dress is
concerned. The whole attire of the women of the Kulu
valley consists of a long woollen scarf or shawl of home
manufacture, a portion of which forms the petticoat—held
in position by a girdle—whilst the remainder is so arranged
as to cover the whole bust, leaving the arms free. This
garment is fastened on each side of the chest by a brass