Ethnological results of the Point Barrow expedition: Ninth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1887-1888, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1892, pages 3-442Murdoch, John
History
Ethnological results of the Point Barrow expedition: Ninth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1887-1888, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1892, pages 3-442
Murdoch, John
Eskimos -- Alaska -- Barrow, Point, Region
No. 89468 [1354], Fig. 253_c_, from Utkiavwĭñ, has no stud and the
claws are simply held on by a slight lashing of twisted sinew. Both of
these were made for the market, but may be models of a form once used.
There are two old seal calls in the Museum from near St. Michaels,
made of a piece of reindeer antler, apparently the spreading brow
antler, in which the sharp points of the antler take the place of
claws. The use of this implement, as shown by Mr. Nelson’s collection,
extends or extended from Point Barrow to Norton Sound. He collected
specimens from St. Lawrence Island and Cape Wankarem in Siberia.
Nordenskiöld speaks of the use of this implement at Pitlekaj and
figures a specimen.[N353] The other instrument appears to be less
common. I have called it a seal rattle.
[Footnote N353: Vega, vol. 2, p. 117, Fig. 3.]
_Seal rattle._--We obtained only two specimens, No. 56533 [409], which
seem to be a pair. Fig. 254 is one of these. It is of cottonwood and 4
inches long, roughly carved into the shape of a seal’s head and
painted red, with two small transparent blue glass beads inlaid for
the eyes. The neat becket of seal thong consists of three or four
turns with the end wrapped spirally around them. The staple on which
the ivory pendants hang is of iron. This is believed to be a rattle to
be shaken on the ice by a string tied to the becket for the purpose of
attracting seals to the ice net. It was brought in for sale at a time
during our first year when we were very busy with zoological work, and
as something was said about “nĕtyĭ” and “kubra” (“seal” and “net”) the
collector concluded that they must be floats for seal nets, and they
were accordingly catalogued as such and laid away. We never happened
to see another specimen, and as these were sent home in 1882 we
learned no more of their history. The late Dr. Emil Bessels, however,
on my return called my attention to the fact that in the museum at
Copenhagen there is a single specimen very similar to these, which was
said to have been used in the manner described above. It came from
somewhere in eastern America. There is one, he told me, in the British
Museum from Bering Strait. The National Museum contains several
specimens collected by Mr. Nelson at Point Hope. It is very probable
that this is the correct explanation of the use of these objects, as
it assigns a function to the ivory pendants which would otherwise be
useless. They have been called “dog bells,” but the Eskimo, at Point
Barrow, at least, are not in the habit of marking their dogs in any
way.
[Illustration: FIG. 254.--Seal rattle. 1/2]
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