PLATE XV.
A MORDVINE
OF THE MOKSHAN TRIBE.
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THE dress of the women of this tribe differs very little from that of the
Erzian women. Their bonnets, which they call panga, are not so high
as those of the latter tribe; and many of them, at least when young,
wear only a worked piece of linen over their head. They also braid
their hair in tresses, and mix black wool with it, in order to make it
appear thicker and longer. When they wear bonnets, they fasten to
the back part of them two strips of skin, very much ornamented,
w hich come down over their shoulders to their breast. They also dress
themselves out in collars and rows of beads, which serve them by way of
handkerchief, and which they call zifks; and to this they fasten a piece
of cloth, or linen, called siai, reaching almost to their girdle, and
closely ornamented with pieces of enamel, and shells. Their shoes are
made of the bark of trees ; and, instead of stockings, they wrap pieces
of linen round their feet and legs.
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