Posted by 3 Piggies Productions on September 29, 1998 at 09:17:30:
As promised, this is the first in a series of articles written by Hawkeye for 3 Piggies Productions. We hope you will enjoy it and we look forward to bringing you many more articles from him on the subject of wilderness survival.
Hawkeye speaks:
I guess I would like to begin this series of articles by discussing the things I learned about clothing, beginning with our little hike from the George Road to Fort William Henry. First of all, I'll discuss the clothing. The long dresses and petticoats the women wore had some major disadvantages. They dragged at their feet, were unbearably heavy when they got wet and took forever to dry. They provided the women some protection when they were relieving themselves, but were difficult to keep clean and to wash when they became soiled. I suppose they may have been of some use in keeping off the mosquitos, but the low necked dress that my Cora wore was not even useful for that. At night they may have provided some extra warmth and protection from the crawling bugs which seemed to cause them great worry.
I never could convince my Cora to try to make and wear deerskin clothing. For some reason she had an aversion to handling the brains needed for proper tanning of the skins. Even when I tanned them for her, she could not handle the skins without thinking of the tanning process, and so she was not useful for sewing either. Wearing them was out of the question for her. I have been quite heartened that the women at 3 Piggies Productions have been very willing to learn the craft of tanning and sewing the skins. They have come up with many new designs for women and for men, including some beautiful hand-quilled custom-made loincloths for me. The fitting sessions for both their clothing and for mine have become quite enjoyable. I had no idea that body waxing was required before wearing such clothing. Although quite painful in some areas, it does have a certain erotic aspect.
Ahem…A discussion of clothing would not be complete without mention of footwear. The leather shoes which both Cora and my poor deceased sister-in-law Alice wore were completely unsuitable. They were much too stiff for long walks and caused blisters when they became wet. Before Cora learned about the tanning process, I did convince her to try mocassins similar to mine. For rock climbing I prefer vibrum soles, but for general use, any good covered Addidas running shoe is adequate. Cora preferred the simple Addidas mocassins due to their lighter weight.
My father made Cora a lovely choker similar to his. I understand she wore this in Boston and in London when she returned from the wilderness and received many compliments. I believe copies of her choker can be bought at the Mohican Gift Shop. They are reasonably priced and the workmanship is excellent. As an aside, I also understand copies of my wampum belt are available there. As mine is getting rather worn, I thought I might purchase one of the reproductions for everyday wear and save the original for special occasions.
I must confess that I have learned quite a few things about clothing myself while I have been staying here at 3 Piggies Productions. I had never heard of a hula skirt before, but it has all the advantages of a loincloth with a much more exciting sensation as I've learned to make it swish. It also affords many more opportunities for peeking. Although I have been used to bathing in my skin, I must say that these new bikinis the women are wearing are much preferable to the clothing Cora used to wear while "bathing". And whoever heard of suntan lotion… and applying it to each other… in all those places…