The Eskimos make odd use of an antler as a brake for a sleigh, to
prevent the harnessed dogs from running after any Caribou they may
sight; on other occasions it retards the sleigh in descending a hill.
Such an antler, that I found at the Windy River post, is notched near
the base; a rope or thong, 2 or 3 feet in length, is fastened at one end
to this notch, and at the other to the side of the sleigh. To apply the
brake, the driver simply presses down the points of the antler into the
snow or ice.
The drums used in the ceremonial dances of the Kazan River Eskimos are
made of a piece of caribou skin stretched tightly over a circular frame
of spruce and fastened in place with caribou sinew. They are about 3
feet in diameter.
In an Eskimo fish spear from the upper Kazan River an iron barb on one
of the prongs is supported by a small piece of caribou antler and
fastened with back sinew. The two large lateral prongs, of metal, are
tied to the wooden shaft of the spear with braided sinew.
Two snow-knives have handles of antler, about 10 and 11 inches in
length. One of the handles has been planed down, and is wrapped with
sinew.
The handle of another implement, used in cleaning out grains of wood
from a hole being drilled in wood, is also a piece of antler.
A woman’s knife, or _ooloo_, has a section of antler for a handle.
Strands of beads, used either for an ear pendant or for ornaments at the
peak of a hood, have a caribou incisor fastened at the tip. The opposite
end of the pendant is provided with a thin strip of caribou hide for
fastening to a perforated ear lobe.
The willow stems of pipes are wrapped with back sinew.
Antler and sinew went into the making (by Anoteelik) of a “ring and pin”
game.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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