For the coarser work of sewing boots, canoes, and tents, they use the sinew from the tail of the narwhal.

The sewing is now done with the steel needles I have given them; but in former years they used a punch made of bone, passing the sinew through the hole, as a shoemaker uses a "waxed end." They do not cut the skins with shears, as that would injure the fur; but with a "woman's knife," similar to an old-fashioned mincemeat chopper.
The shaggy fur trousers are invariably made from the skins of the polar bear.

Then there are stockings of hareskin, and the _kamiks_, or boots, of sealskin, soled with the heavier skin of the square-flipper seal.

On the ship, on sledge journeys, and in all the field work of the winter, the regular footgear of the Eskimos was worn.

Add the warm fur mittens, and the winter wardrobe is complete.
It may reasonably be inquired whether the close housing for so long a time of such a considerable number of human beings did not result in personal friction, due to the inevitable accumulation of a thousand and one petty irritations.