Page:The nomads of the Balkans, an account of life and customs among the Vlachs of Northern Pindus (1914).djvu/71

 heel, and turned-up toes decorated with a large tassel. On his head he wears a white fez, kâtshulă, without a tassel. If the weather be cold or wet the muleteer will slip on over all these garments a thick loose cape of goat’s hair called tămbare (Plate XI I). This is so thick that it is rainproof and sticks out all round so as to throw the rain off the lower limbs, although it does not reach much lower than the knees. The sleeves are sewn up at the end, but are slit through at the shoulder like those of the malliotŭ. There is a conical hood attached to the back of the neck ready to be drawn over the head, and it does not require fastening in front for it overlaps well and keeps its place by its own weight. This is the ordinary week-day costume of a young man, but for high days and holidays he will naturally put on his best. Then he will change the coloured shirt for a white one of fine linen, and with an enormous number of pleats in front, for the more pleats a shirt has the smarter it is (Plate VII 4). In fact it takes something like six yards of linen to make one. The jean waistcoat will be replaced by one of velvetteen, the woollen sash by one of silk, and the white fez by a red one with a tassel. Then the malliotŭ will be discarded for a palto (Plate VII 4), a great-coat of thick homespun with a velvet collar, full skirts and a waist, cut more or less after the model of a European great-coat of which it is a local variation. The full skirts of the palto are required in order to accommodate the pleats of the tsipune behind. Like the shirt the tsipune is smarter in proportion to the number of its pleats (kline) behind. The ordinary everyday tsipune will have only nine or ten pleats, and not much braiding. The Sunday tsipune will have as many as twenty pleats and very elaborate needlework braiding dow'n the edges in front ; in these two points the great beauty of a really elegant garment lies. The tsâruh'i of weekdays also will be replaced by a pair of slip-on black shoes with low heels made rather like European walking shoes, except that they do not lace up and have very pointed toes.

A man of middle age will wear a costume that is practically the same as that just described, but there are some garments which are thought to be more suited to an older man. This