What is "kirtles"

Usage examples of "kirtles".

Christian gazed at them admiringly, thinking he had never seen a more beautiful sight than those two made in their kirtles of tapa cloth, with flecks of sunlight and shadows of leaves moving as the wind would have it across their faces and their slim brown bodies.

Their kirtles of tapa were torn and soiled and their arms and legs covered with cuts and bruises.