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. 56625 [81], also from Utkiavwĭñ, is almost exactly similar to the
one first described, but has the seal belly up. Fig. 257_c_ (No. 89470
[1337], from the same village) has a seal 2.3 inches long for the
handle, and No. 56626 [212], from Utkiavwĭñ, is like it. No. 89469_a_,
[755_a_] Fig. 257_d_, from Utkiavwĭñ, has for a handle the head of a
bearded seal 1.6 inches long, neatly carved from walrus ivory, with
round bits of wood inlaid for the eyes and ears. It is perforated
longitudinally from the chin to the back of the head, and a large hole
at the throat opens into this. The longer end of the thong is passed
in at the chin and out at the back of the head; the shorter, in at the
back of the head and out at the throat; the two ends brought together
between the standing parts and all stopped together with sinew braid.
No. 56627 [45], Fig. 257_e_, has a handle made of two ivory bears’
heads, very neatly carved, with circular bits of wood inlaid for eyes,
and perforated like the seal’s head just described. The thong is
doubled in the middle and each end passed through one of the heads
lengthwise, so as to protrude about 7 inches. About 4 inches of end is
then doubled over, thrust through the throat hole of the opposite
head, and brought down along the standing parts. All the parts are
stopped together with sinew braid. This makes a small becket above the
handle.
We collected seven knobs for these drag lines, of which six are seals’
heads and one a bear’s. They are all made of walrus ivory, apparently
each a single tooth, and not a piece of tusk, and are about 1½ inches
to 2 inches long. They are generally carved with considerable skill,
and often have the ears, roots of the whiskers, nostrils, and outline
of the mouth incised and blackened, while small blue beads, bits of
ivory, or wood are inlaid for the eyes. Implements of this sort are in
common use among Eskimo generally wherever they are so situated as to
be able to engage in seal-hunting. Mr. Nelson’s collection contains
specimens from as far south as Cape Darby.
_Whalebone wolf-killers (ĭsĭbru)._--Before the introduction of the
steel traps, which they now obtain by trade, these people used a
peculiar contrivance for catching the wolf. This consists of a stout
rod of whalebone about 1 foot long and one-half inch broad, with a
sharp point at each end. One of these was folded lengthwise in the
form of a Z,[N356] wrapped in blubber (whale’s blubber was used,
according to our informant, Nĭkawáalu), and frozen solid. It was then
thrown out on the snow where the wolf could find and swallow it. The
heat of the animal’s body would thaw out the blubber, releasing the
whalebone, which would straighten out and pierce the walls of the
stomach, thus causing the animal’s death. Nikawáalu says that a wolf
would not go far after swallowing one of these blubber balls.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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