The drum (sauyit)[6] is the only instrument employed in the dances. It
is made of a circular hoop about eighteen inches in width over which
is stretched a resonant covering made from the bladder of the walrus
or seal. It is held in place by a cord of rawhide (o['k]linok)[7]
which fits into a groove on the outer rim. The cover can therefore be
tightened at will. It is customary during the intermissions between
the dances for the drummers to rub a handful of snow over the skins to
prevent them from cracking under the heavy blows. The drum is held
aloft and struck with a thin stick (mumwa).[8] It gives a deep boom in
answer. The shaman uses a smaller baton with which he beats a
continuous tattoo as an accompaniment to his songs. The northerners
strike the back of the rim with their sticks, while the Yukon people
belabor the face of the drum.
[6] Tcauyak, Yukon dialect.
[7] Loftak, Yukon dialect.
[8] Mumra, Yukon dialect.
The leader of the chorus frequently flourishes a baton, made from a
fox tail or the skin of the ermine which is mounted on a stick. With
this he marks the time of the dance. In Plate XIV, the white blur is
the ermine at the end of his stick. It is very difficult to obtain a
good picture in the ill lighted kasgi, and not often that the natives
will allow one taken there.
One indispensable part of a male dancer's outfit is his gloves. I have
never seen a man dancing without them. These are usually of wolverine,
or of reindeer with elaborate trimmings, but on ordinary occasions any
kind will do. The women do not share this peculiarity. In place of
gloves they wear handlets of grass decorated with feathers of duck or
of ptarmigan. The men in the Totem Dances also wear handlets which are
carved and painted to represent the particular totem they seek to
honor. These too are fantastically decorated with feathers, usually of
the loon. The central feather is stripped, and crowned with a tuft of
white down. Both men and women wear armlets and fillets of skin or
feathers according to the animal character they represent. When in the
full swing of the dance with fur and feathers streaming they present a
pleasing spectacle, a picture full of the same wild grace and poetic
motion which characterizes the animal forbears from which they claim
descent.
The chief characters in the Totem and Comic Dances wear masks and
carry staves decorated with feathers. Occasionally the women
assistants carry feathered wands (Kelizruk).
Of the masks there is a great variety ranging from the plain wooden
masks to those of such great size that they are suspended from the
ceiling of the kasgi by a cord while the dancer performs behind them.
The Cape Prince of Wales (Kinigumiut) Eskimo construct complete
figures of their totems. These are worked by means of concealed
strings by the performers, a climax of art which is supposed to be
particularly pleasing to the spirits addressed. Then the shaman
(Tungalik)[9] has his own set of masks, hideous enough to strike
terror to even the initiated. Each one of these represents a familiar
spirit (tunghat)[10] which assists him in his operations.
[9] Tungralik, Yukon dialect.
[10] Tungraniyak, Yukon dialect.
Ordinary dance masks may be made by anyone, but the masks for the
ceremonial dances are made by some renowned shaman, engaged for the
occasion. These masks are burned at the close of the festival, but may
be sold by the actors if they supply an equal amount of wood for the
sacrificial fire.
Many of the masks are very complicated, having appendages of wood, fur
and feathers. They are all fashioned with an idea of representing some
feature in the mythology of the spirit (Inua) or animal shade
(Tunghat) which they represent. In the latter case they are nearly
always made double, the mythical beings who inhabited the early world
being regarded as able to change from animal to human shape, by merely
pushing up or pulling down the upper part of the face as a mask. Such
masks are often hinged to complete the illusion, the actor changing
the face at will.
It might be mentioned here that when the actor puts on the mask he is
supposed to become imbued with the spirit of the being represented.
This accounts, to the native mind, for the very lifelike imitation
which he gives.
The masks are painted along conventional lines; the favorite colors
for the inua masks are red (Karekteoak),[11] black (Auktoak), green
(Cungokyoak), white (Katektoak), and blue (Taukrektoak), in the order
named. These colors[12] may hold a sacred or symbolic significance.
The inua masks are decorated with some regard to the natural colors of
the human face, but in the masks of the tunghat the imagination of the
artist runs riot. The same is true of the comic masks, which are
rendered as grotesque and horrible as possible. A mask with distorted
features, a pale green complexion, surrounded by a bristling mass of
hair, amuses them greatly. The Eskimo also caricature their neighbors,
the Dene, in this same manner, representing them by masks with very
large noses and sullen features.
[11] These are the northern names. In the southern or Yukon dialect
black is Tunguli; white Katughuli; red, Kauiguli; green, Tcununguli.
The endings and pronunciation of similar Eskimo words are somewhat
different in Arctic Alaska and on the Yukon River; sufficiently so as
to produce two distinct dialects. For this reason I have given the
forms from both sections.
[12] Red is obtained from red ochre; white from white clay; black from
soot or ashes; green from oxide of copper.