DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68501#0388
368
THE TOILETTE IN RUSSIA.
garment they use black, white, or speckled skins, the
hair of which is much esteemed.
This is the upper garment of both men and
women; but the latter also wear very wide and short
trousers, and a waistcoat tied round the body. Their
hats are made of birch, bark, or plaited grass. The
women use a white paint, made of rotten wood, and a
red paint, made from a sea plant boiled in seal’s fat,
which they rub over their faces; they also were
formerly much addicted to the wearing of perukes,
some weighing ten pounds each.
A veil is often thrown over their faces when they
go abroad; and though both men and women wrap
their feet and legs in bark, both the Cossac and
Kamtschatkian petit-maitres, when in their best dress,
wear buskins of peculiar elegance ; and if an un-
married man appears in them when visiting his
friends, it is immediately concluded that he is about
paying his addresses to some fur-clad maiden. The
sole of these buskins is of white seal-skin, the upper
part of fine white leather, made from white dog-skins ;
and the part .which adorns the legs is of dressed
leather or dyed seal-skin, beautifully embroidered.
The inhabitants of Kasan, another province of
Russia, wear a dress that somewhat resembles that of
the Russians. The Tartars who live in Kasan have
a woollen jacket, which is bound round the waist with
a girdle; over this is a long flowing outer robe.
They always have boots on their feet, and they shave
their heads, except on one place on the back part,
which they cover with a small piece of leather. They
wear a cap edged with fur.
THE TOILETTE IN RUSSIA.
garment they use black, white, or speckled skins, the
hair of which is much esteemed.
This is the upper garment of both men and
women; but the latter also wear very wide and short
trousers, and a waistcoat tied round the body. Their
hats are made of birch, bark, or plaited grass. The
women use a white paint, made of rotten wood, and a
red paint, made from a sea plant boiled in seal’s fat,
which they rub over their faces; they also were
formerly much addicted to the wearing of perukes,
some weighing ten pounds each.
A veil is often thrown over their faces when they
go abroad; and though both men and women wrap
their feet and legs in bark, both the Cossac and
Kamtschatkian petit-maitres, when in their best dress,
wear buskins of peculiar elegance ; and if an un-
married man appears in them when visiting his
friends, it is immediately concluded that he is about
paying his addresses to some fur-clad maiden. The
sole of these buskins is of white seal-skin, the upper
part of fine white leather, made from white dog-skins ;
and the part .which adorns the legs is of dressed
leather or dyed seal-skin, beautifully embroidered.
The inhabitants of Kasan, another province of
Russia, wear a dress that somewhat resembles that of
the Russians. The Tartars who live in Kasan have
a woollen jacket, which is bound round the waist with
a girdle; over this is a long flowing outer robe.
They always have boots on their feet, and they shave
their heads, except on one place on the back part,
which they cover with a small piece of leather. They
wear a cap edged with fur.