Page:Costume, fanciful, historical, and theatrical (1906).djvu/176

134 is narrow and of abnormal length, terminating below the knees in a fur cuff, no hint being allowed to transpire of the hands thus jealously guarded from the unwelcome attentions of frost.

The peasant woman of Riazan wears black shoes, white stockings rucked at the ankles, a shortish skirt of bright blue cotton, and a fringed apron worked in a variety of colours, notably yellow and scarlet. The chief garment is the ponka, a loose round coat to the knees, v€ry like that of a Chinaman, fashioned from white linen edged with a narrow border of red, the wide elbow-sleeves terminating in an inch-deep band of the same. Open in front, the jacket allows a liberal view of a red blouse, worked in a characteristic cross-stitch design in brilliant shades, the long "bishop" sleeves being of plain Turkey-red, finished with shallow frills hemmed with blue in a tone corresponding to that of the skirt. Almost impossible to describe in words, the kitschka or local head-dress, can best be pictured as a miniature version of the bonnet characteristic of the Salvation Army lass. Composed of red velvet, it is neatly draped with a silk kerchief the shade of the feathers on a pigeon's breast. From the back dangle two unequal ends, one on top of the other, white edged with red, the extremities consisting of stiffened squares of scarlet passementerie, trimmed at the bottom with shallow red fringe.

In striking contrast to the types already mentioned, the costume of a Tartar woman bears evidence of her Oriental descent, the memory of which she strives still further to perpetuate by staining her nails with henna and blackening her eyebrows and hair. She betrays a decided predilection for