Wilton, Mary Margaret Stanley Egerton: The Book of costume or, Annals of fashion: from the earliest period to the present time (London: Henry Colburn, Publisher, 1847)

366

THE TOILETTE IN RUSSIA.

slit in front like a man’s shirt, and hemmed up each
side of the opening with thread or worsted of different
colours ; there is also a little ornament of a triangular
figure wrought on the right side of the shift. Their
gown is woollen, and bears a great resemblance to
the habit of the Jesuits in college ; the sleeves of the
upper gown are slit in the middle, to give passage to
the arms, and the lower part generally hangs down.
This gown, which reaches to the legs, is fastened
merely by a girdle, curiously wrought. They wear,
also, coarse cloth stockings and sandals, like the
Russians. Their head-dress is very remarkable : they
first wrap their heads in a towel, over which they
fasten, with two strings, a kind of helmet, made of
the bark of a tree, and ornamented in front with a
piece of cloth and with copecs ; the helmet is then
covered with a handkerchief, wrought with thread or

worsted of various colours, and edged with a fringe.
This head-dress is above a foot high. The hair is