TOOLS.

_Knives._--All the men are now supplied with excellent knives of

civilized manufacture, mostly butcher knives or sheath knives of

various patterns, which they employ for numerous purposes, such as

skinning and butchering game, cutting up food, and rough whittling.

Fine whittling and carving is usually done with the “crooked knife,”

to be described further on. In whittling the knife is grasped so that

the blade projects on the ulnar side of the hand and is drawn toward

the workman. A pocketknife, of which they have many of various

patterns, is used in the same way. I observed that the Asiatic Eskimo

at Plover Bay held the knife in the same manner. Capt. Lyon, in

describing a man whittling at Winter island, says: “As is customary

with negroes, he cut toward the left hand and never used the thumb of

the right, as we do, for a check to the knife.”[N273] This apparently

refers to a similar manner of holding the knife. Before the

introduction of iron, knives appear to have been always made of slate,

worked by grinding. We obtained twenty-six more or less complete

knives, most of which are genuine old implements, which have been

preserved as heirlooms or amulets. These knives are either single or

double edged, and the double-edged knives may be divided into four

classes, according to their shape. The first class consists of rather

small knives with the edges straight or only slightly curved, tapering

to a sharp or truncated point, with the butt terminating in a short

broad tang slightly narrower than the blade, which is inserted in the

end of a straight wooden haft, at least as long as the blade. The

commonest material is a hard, dark purple slate, though some are of

black or dark gray slate. Of this class we have three complete knives

and five blades without the haft.

[Footnote N273: Journal, p. 92.]

[Illustration: FIG. 99.--Slate knives. 1/2]

No. 89584 [1107] (figured in Point Barrow Rept., Ethnology, Pl. III,

Fig. 3), will represent this class. It is a blade of dark purple

slate, ground smooth, 3.5 inches long, tapering from a width of 1.3

inches at the butt, with curved edges to a sharp point, and beveled on

both faces from the middle line to the edges, and the flat tang is

inserted into a cleft in the end of a straight haft of spruce. The

blade is secured by a whipping of about fifteen turns of sinew braid

lodged in a broad shallow groove round the end of the haft. In a hole

in the other end of the haft is looped a short lanyard of seal thong.

Fig. 99_a_, No. 89581 [1011], is a knife of the same class and about

the same size, having a haft 4 inches and a blade 3 inches long. The

blade is secured by two lashings, of which the first is a narrow strip

of whalebone, and the other of sinew braid. The materials of blade and

haft are the same as before. No. 89585 [1710] (Fig. 99_b_), has a

blade of dark gray slate, and the haft, which appears to be of cotton

wood, is in two longitudinal sections. The lashing which holds these

two sections together is of braided sinew. Of the blades, the only

sharp-pointed one, No. 56684 [228] (Fig. 100), is like the blade of

89584 [1107], but rather larger. The others all have rounded or

truncated points and are not over 3½ inches long, including the tang,

but otherwise closely resemble the blades already described. They all

show signs of considerable age and several of them are nicked and

gapped on the edge from use. Knives of this class are not like any in

use at the present day, and it was not possible to learn definitely

whether this shape served any special purpose. We were, however, given

to understand that the sharp-pointed ones were sometimes, at least,

used for stabbing. Perhaps they were used specially for cutting up the

smaller animals.

[Illustration: FIG. 100.--Slate knife-blade. 1/2]

The second class, of which there are four specimens, is not unlike the

first, but the blade is short and broad, with strongly curved edges,

and always sharp pointed, while the haft is always much longer than

the blade. Instead of being evenly beveled off on both faces from the

middle line to the edges, they are either slightly convex, worked down

gradually to the edge, or flat with narrowly beveled edges. They are

all small knives, the longest being 8.3 inches long, with the blade

projecting 3.1 inches from the haft, and the shortest 4.9 inches, with

the blade projecting only 1.4 inches.

[Illustration: FIG. 101.--Slate knife. 1/2]

Fig. 101, No. 89583 [1305], is a knife of this class, with the blade a

nearly equilateral triangle (1.4 inches long and 1.3 inches wide at

the base), with a flat wooden haft as wide as the blade and 3½ inches

long, cleft at the tip and lashed with thirteen or fourteen turns of

sinew braid. The holes near the butt of the haft were probably to

receive a lanyard. Fig. 102, No. 89591 [1016], is another form of the

same class. The blade is secured by a single rivet of wood.

[Illustration: FIG. 102.--Slate knife. 1/4]

[Illustration: FIG. 103.--Slate hunting-knife. 1/4]

The third class consists of large knives, with long, broad, lanceolate

blades, and short straight hafts. There is only one complete specimen,

No. 89592 [1002], Fig. 103. This has a blade of soft, light greenish

slate, 6 inches long and 2.6 inches broad, with the edges broadly

beveled on both faces. The haft of spruce is in two longitudinal

sections, put together so as to inclose the short tang of the blade,

and is secured by a tight whipping of eighteen turns of fine seal

twine, and painted with red ocher. This knife is new and was made for

sale, but is undoubtedly a correct model of an ancient pattern, as No.

56676 [204] (Fig. 104), which is certainly ancient, appears to be the

blade of just such a knife. We were told that the latter was intended

for cutting blubber. This perhaps means that it was a whaling knife.

Mr. Nelson brought home a magnificent knife of precisely the same

pattern, made of light green jade.

[Illustration: FIG. 104.--Blade of slate hunting-knife. 1/4]

[Illustration: FIG. 105.--Large slate knife. 1/4]

The two knives, representing the fourth class, are both new and made

for sale, having blades of soft slate. As we obtained no genuine

knives of this pattern, it is possible that they are merely commercial

fabrications. The two knives are very nearly alike, but the larger,

No. 89590 [984] (Fig. 105), is the more carefully made. The blade is of

light greenish gray slate, 6.2 inches long and 2 inches broad, and is

straight nearly to the tip, where it curves to a sharp point, making a

blade like that of the Roman gladius. The haft is a piece sawed out of

the beam of an antler, and has a cleft sawed in one end to receive the

short broad tang of the blade. The whipping is of sinew braid.

[Illustration: FIG. 106.--Large single-edged slate knife. 1/4]

The single-edged knives were probably all meant specially for cutting

food, and are all of the same general pattern, varying in size from a

blade only 2½ inches long to one of 7 inches. The blade is generally

more strongly curved along the edge than on the back and is usually

sharp-pointed. It is fitted with a broad tang to a straight haft,

usually shorter than the blade. There are in the collection four

complete knives and five unhafted blades. No. 89597 [1052] (Fig. 106)

is a typical knife of this kind. The blade is of black slate, rather

rough, and is 5.6 inches long (including the tang). The tang, which is

about one-half inch long and the same breadth, is lashed _against_ one

end of the flat haft of bone which is cut away to receive it, with

five turns of stout seal thong. No. 89594 [1053] differs from the

preceding only in having the tang inserted in a cleft in the end of

the haft, and No. 89589_a_ [1054] has the back more curved than the

edge, the haft of antler and the lashing of whalebone. All three are

of very rude workmanship. No. 89587 [1587], is a small knife with a

truncated point and the tang imbedded without lashing in the end of a

roughly made haft of bone.

[Illustration: FIG. 107.--Blades of knives.]

Most of the blades are those of knives similar to the type, more

smoothly finished, but No. 56712 [226] (Fig. 107_a_) is noticeable for

the extreme “belly” of the edge and the smoothness with which the

faces are beveled from back to edge. Such knives approach the woman’s

round knife (ulu, ulu´ra). No. 89601 [776] (Fig. 107_b_) is almost

double-edged, the back being rounded off. Fig. 108, No. 89631 [1081],

is a very remarkable form of slate knife, of which this was the only

specimen seen. In shape it somewhat resembles a hatchet, having a

broad triangular blade with a strongly curved cutting edge, along the

back of which is fitted a stout haft of bone 12½ inches long. The

blade is of soft, dark purple slate, ground smooth, and resembles the

modern knives in having the sharp cutting edge beveled almost wholly

on one face. The haft is the foreshaft of an old whale harpoon, and is

made of whale’s bone. The back of the blade is fitted into a deep

narrow saw cut, and held on by three very neat lashings of narrow

strips of whalebone, each of which passes through a hole drilled

through the blade close to the haft and through a pair of vertical

holes in the haft on each side of the blade. These holes converge

towards the back of the haft and are joined by a deep channel, so that

the lashing is countersunk below the surface of the haft. This

implement was brought down from Nuwŭk and offered for sale as a knife

anciently used for cutting off the blubber of a whale. The purchaser

got the impression that it was formerly attached to a long pole and

used like a whale spade. On more careful examination after our return

it was discovered that the haft was really part of an old harpoon and

that the lashings and holes to receive them were evidently newer than

the haft.

[Illustration: FIG. 108.--Peculiar slate knife. 1/4]

It is possible that the blade may have been long ago fitted to the

haft and that the tool may have been used as described. That knives of

this sort were occasionally used by the Eskimo is shown by a specimen

in the Museum from Norton Sound. This is smaller than the one

described but has a slate blade of nearly the same shape and has a

haft, for hand use only, put on in the same way.

With such knives as these the cut is made by _drawing_ the knife

toward the user instead of pushing it away, as in using the round

knife. We found no evidence that these Eskimo ever used knives of

ivory (except for cutting snow) or ivory knives with bits of iron

inlaid in the edge, such as have been observed among those of the

East.

[Illustration: FIG. 109--Knife with whalebone blade. 1/4]

Fig. 109, No. 89477 [1422], is a very extraordinary implement, which

was brought down from Point Barrow and which has evidently been

exposed alongside of some corpse at the cemetery. The blade is a long,

flat, thin piece of whalebone wedged between the two psarts of the

haft, which has been sawed lengthwise for 6½ inches to receive it. The

haft is a slender piece of antler. No other specimens of the kind were

seen, nor have similar implements, to my knowledge, been observed

elsewhere. The natives insisted that it was genuine, and was formerly

used for cutting blubber.

[Illustration: FIG. 110.--Small iron knife.]

I have introduced four figures of old iron or steel knives, of which

we have six specimens, in order to show the way in which the natives

in early days, when iron was scarce, utilized old case-knives and bits

of tools, fitting them with hafts of their own make. All agree in

having the edge beveled on the upper face only. All the knives which

they obtain from the whites at the present day are worked over with a

file so as to bring the bevel on one face only. Fig. 110, No. 89296

[970], from Nuwŭk, has a blade of iron, and the flat haft is made of

two longitudinal sections of reindeer antler, held together with four

large rivets nearly equidistant. The two which pass through the tang

are of brass and the other two of iron. The blade is 3.6 inches long,

the haft 4.1 long and 0.9 broad. Fig. 110, No. 89294 [901], from

Utkiavwĭñ, has a short, thick, and sharp-pointed blade, and is hafted

in the same way with antler, one section of the haft being cut out to

receive the short, thick tang. The first two rivets are of iron, the

other three of brass and not quite long enough to go wholly through

the haft. The blade is barely 2 inches long. Fig. 111_a_, No. 89297

[1125], from Nuwŭk, has a short blade, 2½ inches long, and the two

sections of the haft are held together, not by rivets, but by a close

spiral lasting of stout seal thong extending the whole length of the

haft. No. 89293 [1330], Fig. 111_b_, from Utkiavwĭñ, has a peculiarly

shaped blade, which is a bit of some steel tool imbedded in the end of

a straight bit of antler 4 inches long. One of these knives, not

figured, is evidently part of the blade of an old-fashioned curved

case knife. It is stamped with the name “Wilson,” and underneath this

are three figures, of which only <> can be made out. This may be a

table knife bought or stolen from the _Plover_ in 1852-’54.

[Illustration: FIG. 111.--Small iron knives. 1/2]

[Illustration: FIG. 112.--Iron hunting knife. 1/2]

There is in the collection one large double-edged knife (Fig. 112, No.

89298 [1162]) of precisely the same form as the slate hunting knife

(Fig. 103) and Mr. Nelson’s jade knife previously mentioned. The blade

is of thick sheet iron, which has in it a couple of rivet holes, and

the haft of reindeer antler in two sections, held together by a large

copper rivet at each end and a marline of sinew braid. Each edge has a

narrow bevel on one face only, the two edges being beveled on opposite

faces. There are a small number of such knives still in use,

especially as hunting knives (for cutting up walrus, one man said).

They are considered to be better than modern knives for keeping off

evil spirits at night. As is not unusual, the antiquity of the object

has probably invested it with a certain amount of superstitious

regard. These knives are undoubtedly the same as the “double-edged

knives (pan´-na)” mentioned by Dr. Simpson (op. cit., p. 266) as

brought for sale by the Nunatañmiun, who obtained them from the

Siberian natives, and which he believes to be carried as far as the

strait of Fury and Hecla. It would be interesting to decide whether

the stone hunting knives were an original idea of the Eskimo, or

whether they were copies, in stone, of the first few iron knives

obtained from Siberia; but more material is needed before the matter

can be cleared up.

The natives of Point Barrow, in ordinary conversation, call all knives

savĭk, which also means _iron_, and is identically the same as the

word used in Greenland for the same objects. If, then, there was a

time, as these people say, when their ancestors were totally ignorant

of the use of iron--and the large number of stone implements still

found among them is strongly corroborative of this--the use of this

name indicates that the first iron was obtained from the east, along

with the soapstone lamps, instead of from Siberia. Had it first come

from Siberia, as tobacco did, we should expect to find it, like the

latter, called by a Russian or Siberian name.

Like all the Eskimo of North America from Cape Bathurst westward, the

natives of Point Barrow use for fine whittling and carving on wood,

ivory, bone, etc., “crooked knives,” consisting of a small blade, set

on the under side of the end of a long curved haft, so that the edge,

which is beveled only on the upper face, projects about as much as

that of a spokeshave. The curve of blade and haft is such that when

the under surface of the blade rests against the surface to be cut the

end of the haft points up at an angle of about 45°. This knife differs

essentially from the crooked carving knife so generally used by the

Indians of North America. As a rule the latter has only the blade

(which is often double edged) curved and stuck into the end of a

straight haft. These knives are at the present time made of iron or

steel and are of two sizes, a large knife, mĭ´dlĭñ, with a haft 10 to

20 inches long, intended for working on wood, and a small one,

savigro´n (lit. “an instrument for shaving”), with a haft 6 or 7

inches long and intended specially for cutting bone and ivory. Both

sizes are handled in the same way. The knife is held close to the

blade between the index and second fingers of the right hand with the

thumb over the edge, which is toward the workman. The workman draws

the knife toward him, using his thumb as a check to gauge the depth of

the cut. The natives use these knives with very great skill, taking

off long and very even shavings and producing very neat

workmanship.[N274]

[Footnote N274: Compare this with what Capt. Parry says of the

workmanship of the people of Iglulik (2d Voy., p. 336). The almost

exclusive use of the double-edged pan´na is the reason their work

is so “remarkably coarse and clumsy.”]

There are in the collection four large knives and thirteen small ones.

No. 89278 [787] (Fig. 113) will serve as the type of the large knives.

The haft is a piece of reindeer antler, flat on one face and rounded

on the other, and the curve is toward the rounded face. The flat face

is hollowed out by cutting away the cancellated tissue from the bend

to the tip, and the lower edge is sloped off so that the end of the

haft is flat and narrow, with a slight twist. The blade is riveted to

the flat face of the haft with three iron rivets, and is a piece of a

saw countersunk flush with the surface of the haft, so that it follows

its curvature. The cutting edge is beveled only on the upper face. The

lower edge of the haft, from the blade to the place where it begins to

narrow, is pierced with eleven equidistant holes, through which is

laced a piece of sealskin thong, the two parts crossing like a

shoe-lacing, to prevent the hand from slipping. The ornamental pattern

on the upper face of the haft is incised and was originally colored

with red ocher, but is now filled with dirt.

[Illustration: FIG. 113.--Large crooked knife. 1/2]

[Illustration: FIG. 114.--Large crooked knife, with sheath. 1/3]

Fig. 114, No. 89780 [1004_d_], is a very long hafted knife (the haft

is 12.3 inches long), but otherwise resembles the type, though not so

elaborately ornamented. The blade is also a bit of a saw. It is

provided with a sheath 3¼ inches long, made of black sealskin with the

black side out, doubled over at one side, and sewed “over and over”

down the other side and round one end. To the open end is sewed a bit

of thong with a slit in the end of it, into which one end of a lanyard

of seal twine 15 inches long is fastened with a becket-hitch. When the

sheath is fitted over the blade the lanyard is passed through a hole

in the haft and made fast by two or three turns around it. Such

sheaths are often used by careful workmen. This particular knife was

the property of the “inlander” Ilû´bwgɐ, previously mentioned. No.

89283 [967], from Nuwŭk, is interesting as being the only left-handed

tool we obtained. The fourth knife has a blade with a cutting edge of

3½ inches, while that of each of the others is 3 inches.

The small knife differs little from the mĭ´dlĭñ except in having the

haft very much shorter and not tapered off at the tip. Fig. 115_a_,

No. 56552 [145], from Utkiavwĭñ, shows a common form of this kind of

knife, though the blade usually has a sharp point like those of the

large knives, projecting beyond the end of the haft. This knife has a

blade of iron riveted on with two iron rivets to a haft of reindeer

antler. The edges of the haft close to the blade are roughened with

crosscuts to prevent slipping.

The blades of the small knives are frequently inserted into a cleft in

the edge of the haft, as in Fig. 115_b_, 89632 [827], and 89277

[1172]. The blade, in such cases, is secured by wedging it tightly,

with sometimes the addition of a lashing of thong through a hole in

the haft and round the heel of the blade. The blade is usually of

steel, in most cases a bit of a saw and the haft of reindeer antler,

generally plain, unless the circular hollows, such as are to be seen

on No. 89277 [1172], which are very common, are intended for ornament.

Fig. 116, No. 89275 [1183], from Utkiavwĭñ, is a rather peculiar

knife. The haft, which is the only one seen of walrus ivory, is nearly

straight, and the unusually long point of the blade is strongly bent

up. The rivets are of copper. This knife, the history of which we did

not obtain, was very likely meant both for wood and ivory. It is old

and rusty and has been long in use.

[Illustration: FIG. 115.--Small crooked knives. 1/2]

[Illustration: FIG. 116.--Crooked knife. 1/3]

All of the crooked knives in the collection are genuine implements

which have been actually in use, and do not differ in type from the

crooked knives in the Museum from the Mackenzie district, Kotzebue

Sound, and other parts of Alaska. Similar knives appear to be used

among the Siberian Eskimo and the Chukches, who have adopted their

habits. Hooper (Tents, etc., p. 175), mentions “a small knife with a

bent blade and a handle, generally made of the tip of a deer’s horn,”

as one in general use at Plover Bay, and handled in the same skillful

way as at Point Barrow.[N275] Among the Eskimo of the central region

they are almost entirely unknown. The only mention I have seen of such

tools is in Parry’s Second Voyage (p. 504), where he speaks of seeing

at Iglulik “several open knives with crooked wooden handles,” which he

thinks “must have been obtained by communication alongshore with

Hudson Bay.” I can find no specimen, figure, or description of the

sa´nat (“tool”), _the_ tool par excellence of the Greenlanders, except

the following definition in Kleinschmidt’s “Grønlandsk Ordbog”:

“2. Specially a narrow, long-hafted knife, which is sharpened on one

side and slightly curved at the tip (and which is a Greenlander’s

chief tool).” This seems to indicate that this knife, so common in the

West, is equally common in Greenland.[N276]

[Footnote N275: Lisiansky also mentions “a small crooked knife”

(Voyage, p. 181), as one of the tools used in Kadiak in 1805.]

[Footnote N276: A specimen has lately been received at the

National Museum. It is remarkably like the Indian knife in

pattern.]

[Illustration: FIG. 117.--Crooked knives, flint bladed. 4/9 1/3]

Whether these people used crooked knives before the introduction of

iron is by no means certain, though not improbable. Fig. 117_a_, No.

89633 [1196], from Utkiavwĭñ, is a knife made by imbedding a flake of

gray flint in the lower edge of a haft of reindeer antler, of the

proper shape and curvature for a mĭdlĭñ handle. The haft is soiled and

undoubtedly old, while the flaked surfaces of the flint do not seem

fresh, and the edge shows slight nicks, as if it had been used. Had

this knife been followed by others equally genuine looking, I should

have no hesitation in pronouncing it a prehistoric knife, and the

ancestor of the present steel one. The fact, however, that its

purchase gave rise to the manufacture of a host of flint knives all

obviously new and more and more clumsily made, until we refused to buy

any more, leads me to suspect that it was fabricated with very great

care from old material, and skillfully soiled by the maker.

Ten of these knives of flint were purchased within a fortnight before

we detected the deceit. Fig. 117_b_, No. 89636 [1212] is one of the

best of these counterfeits, made by wedging a freshly flaked flint

blade into the haft of an old savigrón, which has been somewhat

trimmed to receive the blade and soiled and charred to make it look

old. Other more carelessly made ones had clumsily carved handles of

whale’s bone, with roughly flaked flints stuck into them and glued in

with oil dregs. All of these came from Utkiavwĭñ. Another suspicious

circumstance is that a few days previously two slate-bladed crooked

knives had been brought down from Nuwŭk and accepted without question

as ancient. On examining the specimens since our return, I find that

while the hafts are certainly old, the blades, which are of soft slate

easily worked, are as certainly new. Fig. 118_a_, 118_b_, represent

these two knives (89580 [1062], 89586 [1061]), which have the blades

lashed on with deer sinew. It is worthy of note in this connection

that there are no stone knives of this pattern in the museum from any

other locality.

[Illustration: FIG. 118.--Slate-bladed crooked knives. 1/2]

The women employ for all purposes for which a knife or scissors could

be used a semicircular knife of the same general type as those

described by every writer from the days of Egede, who has had to deal

with the Eskimo. The knives at the present day are made of steel,

usually, and perhaps always, of a piece of a saw blade, which gives a

sheet of steel of the proper breadth and thickness, and are

manufactured by the natives themselves. Dr. Simpson says[N277] that in

his time they were brought from Kotzebue Sound by the Nunatañmiun, who

obtained them from the Siberian Eskimo. There are in the collection

three of these steel knives, all of the small size generally called

ulúrɐ (“little úlu”). No. 56546 [14] has been picked out for

description (Fig. 119). The blade is wedged into a handle of walrus

ivory. The ornamentation on the handle is of incised lines and dots

blackened. The cutting edge of the blade is beveled on one face only.

This knife represents the general shape of knives of this sort, but is

rather smaller than most of them. I have seen some knives with blades

fully 5 or 6 inches long and deep in proportion. The handle is almost

always of walrus ivory and of the shape figured. I do not remember

ever seeing an úlu blade secured otherwise than by fitting it tightly

into a narrow slit in the handle, except in one case, when the handle

was part of the original handle of the saw of which the knife was

made, left still riveted on.

[Footnote N277: Op. cit., p. 266.]

[Illustration: FIG. 119.--Woman’s knife, steel blade. 1/3]

It is not necessary to specify the various purposes for which these

knives are used. Whenever a woman wishes to cut anything, from her

food to a thread in her sewing, she uses an úlu in preference to

anything else. The knife is handled precisely as described among the

eastern Eskimo, making the cut by pushing instead of drawing,[N278]

thus differing from the long-handled round knife mentioned above.

Knives of this pattern are very generally used among the western

Eskimo, but in the east the blade is always separated from the handle

by a short shank, as in our mincing knives.

[Footnote N278: See for example, Kumlien, op. cit., p. 26.]

[Illustration: FIG. 120.--Woman’s knife, slate blade. 1/3]

The natives of Point Barrow used round knives long before the

introduction of iron. There are in the collection twenty-three more or

less complete round knives of stone, most of which are genuine

implements that have been used. Of these a few, which are perhaps the

more recent ones, have blades not unlike the modern steel knife. For

instance, No. 89680 [1106] Fig. 120, has a blade of hard gray mica

slate of almost precisely the modern shape, but both faces are

gradually worked down to the cutting edge without a bevel on either.

The handle is very large and stout and made of coarse whale’s bone.

This knife was said to have come from the ruined village at Pernyɐ.

Fig. 121, No. 89679 [971], from Nuwŭk, was made for sale, but is

perhaps a model of a form sometimes used. The shape of the blade is

quite different from those now in use, in having the cutting edge

turned so strongly to the front. The handle is of oak and the blade of

rather hard, dark purple slate. Fig. 122, 89689 [985], also from

Nuwŭk, and made for the market, is introduced to show a method of

hafting which may have been formerly employed. The haft is of reindeer

antler in two longitudinal sections, between which the blade is

wedged. These two sections are held together by lashings of sinew at

each end, passing through holes in each piece and round the ends.

These lashings being put on wet, have shrunk so that the blade is very

tightly clasped between the two parts of the handle. The commoner form

of these stone knives, however, has the back of the blade much longer,

so that the sides are straight instead of oblique and usually round

off gradually at the ends of the cutting edge without being produced

into a point at either end. No. 89682 [958] is a form intermediate

between this and the modern shape, having a blade with a long back,

but produced into a sharp point at one end. The handle is of reindeer

antler and the blade rather soft black slate. This specimen is a very

cleverly counterfeited antique.

[Illustration: FIG. 121.--Woman’s knife, slate blade. 1/3]

[Illustration: FIG. 122.--Woman’s knife, slate blade. 1/3]

[Illustration: FIG. 123.--Woman’s knife, slate blade. 1/3]

No. 89636 [1122], Fig. 123, approaches yet nearer the ancient shape,

but still has one end slightly produced. The handle is also of

reindeer antler, which seems to have been very commonly used with the

slate blades. The lashing round the blade close to the handle is of

seal thong, with the end wound spirally round all the parts on both

sides and neatly tucked in. It seems to serve no purpose beyond

enlarging the handle so as to make it fit the hand better. One

beautiful blade of light olive green, clouded jade, No. 89675 [1170],

belonged to a knife of this pattern. The older pattern is represented

by No. 89676 [1586], a small knife blade from Ukiavwĭñ, which has been

kept as an amulet. No. 56660 [129], is a blade of the same type, but

elongated, being 7½ inches long and 2 broad. This is a very beautiful

implement of pale olive jade, ground smooth. The bevel along the back

of each of these blades indicates that they were to be fitted into a

narrow slit in a long haft, like that of No. 89684 [886], Fig. 124,

from Nuwŭk. Though both blade and handle of this specimen are very

old, and have been put together in their present shape for a long

time, the handle, which is of whale’s bone, evidently belonged to a

longer blade, which fitted in the cleft without the need of any

lashing. Fig. 125, No. 89693 [874], shows a form of handle evidently

of very great antiquity, as the specimen shows signs of great age. It

was purchased from a native of Utkiavwĭñ. It is made of a single piece

of coarse whale’s bone. It was intended for a blade at least 7 inches

long.

[Illustration: FIG. 124.--Woman’s ancient slate-bladed knife. 1/3]

[Illustration: FIG. 125.--Ancient bone handle for woman’s knife.

1/3]

[Illustration: FIG. 126.--Large knife of slate. 1/3]

Fig. 126, No. 56672 [191], from Utkiavwĭñ, is a very crude, large

knife, intended for use without a handle. It is of rough, hard, dark

purplish slate. The upper three-quarters of both faces are almost

untouched cleavage surfaces, but the lower quarter is pretty smoothly

ground down to a semicircular cutting edge, which is somewhat nicked

from use. The angular grooves on the two faces were evidently begun

with the intention of cutting the knife in two. We were told that this

large knife was specially for cutting blubber. It is a genuine

antique.

While ground slate is a quite common material for round knives, flint

appears to have been rarely used. We obtained only three of this

material. No. 89690 [1311] is a flint knife hafted with a rough,

irregular lump of coarse whale’s bone. The blade is a rather thin

“spall” of light gray flint, flaked round the edges into the shape of

a modern ulúrɐ blade, with a very strongly curved cutting edge. Though

the handle is new, the flaking of the blade does not seem fresh, so

that it is possibly a genuine old blade fitted with a new haft for the

market. A similar flint blade, more neatly flaked, was brought from

Kotzebue Sound by Lieut. Stoney, U.S. Navy, in 1884. The other two

flint knives are interesting from being made for use without handles.

[Illustration: FIG. 127.--Woman’s knife of flaked flint. 1/3]

No. 89691 [1360], Fig. 127, from Sidaru, is an oblong, wedge-shaped

spall of gray flint, of which the back still preserves the natural

surface of the pebble. It is slightly shaped by coarse flaking along

the back and one end, and the edge is finely flaked into a curved

outline rounding up at the ends. The specimen is old and dirty, and

was probably preserved as a sort of heirloom or amulet. No. 89692

[1178] is a similar spall from a round pebble. Such knives as these

are evidently the first steps in the development of the round knife.

The shape of the spalls, produced by breaking a round or oval pebble

of flint, would naturally suggest using them as knives, and the next

step would be to improve the edge by flaking. The greater adaptability

of slate, from its softness and easy cleavage, for making such knives

would soon be recognized, and we should expect to find, as we do,

knives like No. 56672 [191]. The next step would naturally be to

provide such a knife with a haft at the point where the stone was

grasped by the hand, while reducing this haft so as to leave only just

enough for the grasp and cutting away the superfluous corners of the

blade would give us the modern form of the blade. Round knives of

slate are not peculiar to Point Barrow, but have been collected in

many other places in northwestern America.[N279]

[Footnote N279: See, especially, Dall, Contrib., vol. 1, pp. 59

and 79, for figures of such knives from the caves of Unalashka.]

The relationship between these knives and the semilunar slate blades

found in the North Atlantic States has already been ably discussed by

Dr. Charles Rau.[N280] It must, however, be borne in mind that while

these are sufficiently “fish-cutters” to warrant their admission into

a book on fishing, the cutting of fish is but a small part of the work

they do. The name “fish-cutter,” as applied to these knives, would be

no more distinctive than the name “tobacco-cutter” for a Yankee’s

jackknife.[N281]

[Footnote N280: Prehistoric Fishing, pp. 183-188.]

[Footnote N281: It is but just to Dr. Rau to say that he

recognized the fact that these implements are not exclusively

fish-cutters, and applies this name only to indicate that he has

treated of them simply in reference to their use as such. The

idea, however, that these, being slightly different in shape from

the Greenland _olu_ or ulu, are merely fish knives, has gained a

certain currency among anthropologists which it is desirable to

counteract.]

_Adzes (udlimau)._--Even at the present day the Eskimo of Point Barrow

use no tool for shaping large pieces of woodwork, except a

shorthandled adz, hafted in the same manner as the old stone tools

which were employed before the introduction of iron. Though axes and

hatchets are frequently obtained by trading, they are never used as

such, but the head is removed and rehafted so as to make an adz of it.

This habit is not peculiar to the people of Point Barrow. There is a

hatchet head, mounted in the same way, from the Anderson River, in the

Museum collection, and the same thing was noted in Hudson’s Strait by

Capt. Lyon[N282] and at Iglulik by Capt. Parry.[N283] Mr. L. M. Turner

informs me that the Eskimo of Ungava, on the south side of Hudson’s

Strait, who have been long in contact with the whites, have learned to

use axes. The collection contains two such adzes made from small

hatchets. No. 89873 [972], Fig. 128, is the more typical of the two.

The blade is the head of a small hatchet or tomahawk lashed to the

haft of oak with a stout thong of seal hide. The lashing is one piece,

and is put on wet and shrunk tightly on. This tool is a little longer

in the haft than those commonly used, and the shape and material of

the haft is a little unusual, it being generally elliptical in section

and made of soft wood.

[Footnote N282: Journal, p. 28.]

[Footnote N283: 2d Voyage, p. 536, and pl. opp. p. 548, fig. 3.]

[Illustration: FIG. 128.--Hatchet hafted as an adz. 1/3]

Fig. 129, No. 56638 [309], from Utkiavwĭñ, is a similar adz, but the

head has been narrowed by cutting off pieces from the sides (done by

filing part way through and breaking the piece off), and a deep

transverse groove has been cut on the front face near the butt. Part

of the lashing is held in this groove as well as by the eye, the lower

half of which is filled up with a wooden plug. The haft is peculiar in

being a piece of reindeer antler which has been reduced in thickness

by sawing out a slice for 8 inches from the butt and bringing the two

parts together with four stout wooden treenails about 1½ inches apart.

This is preferable to trimming it down to a proper thickness from the

surface, as the latter process would remove the compact tissue of the

outside and expose the soft inside tissue. The whipping of seal thong

just above the flange of the butt helps to give a better grip and, at

the same time, to hold the parts together. As before, there are two

large holes for the lashing. Adzes of this sort are used for all large

pieces of wood work, such as timbers for boats, planks, and beams for

houses, etc. After roughly dressing these out with the adz they are

neatly smoothed off with the crooked knife, or sometimes, of late

years, with the plane. The work of “getting out” the large pieces of

wood is almost always done where the drift log lies on the beach. When

a man wants a new stem or sternpost for his umiak, or a plank to

repair his house, he searches along the beach until he finds a

suitable piece of driftwood, which he claims by putting a mark on it,

and sometimes hauls up out of the way of the waves. Then, when he has

leisure to go at the work, he goes out with his adz and spends the day

getting it into shape and reducing it to a convenient size to carry

home, either slung on his back or, if too large, on a dog-sled. A man

seldom takes the trouble to carry home more of a piece of timber than

he actually needs for the purpose in hand.

[Illustration: FIG. 129.--Hatchet hafted as an adz. 1/3]

The adz was in general use long before the introduction of iron. There

is in the collection a very interesting series of ancient tools,

showing the gradual development of the implement from a rude oblong

block of stone worked down to a cutting edge on one end, to the steel

adzes of the present day. They have, however, not even yet learned to

make an eye in the head of the tool in which to insert the haft, but

all tools of this class--adzes, hammers, picks, and mattocks--are

lashed, with one face resting against the expanded end of the haft.

Firmness is obtained by putting the lashing on wet and allowing it to

shrink tight. Nearly all these ancient adzes are of jade, a material

well adapted for the purpose by its hardness, which, however, renders

it difficult to work. Probably the oldest of these adzes is No. 56675

[69], Fig. 130, which has been selected as the type of the earliest

form we have represented in the collection. This is of dark olive

green, almost black, jade, 7.2 inches long, 2.8 wide, and 1.3 thick,

and smoothly ground on the broader faces. The cutting edge is much

broken from long use. One broad face is pretty smoothly ground, but

left rough at the butt end. The other is rather flatter, but more than

half of it is irregularly concave, the natural inequalities being

hardly touched by grinding. Like the other dark-colored jade tools,

this specimen is very much lighter on a freshly fractured surface. The

dark color is believed to be due to long contact with greasy

substances.

[Illustration: FIG. 130.--Adz-head of jade. 1/3]

[Illustration: FIG. 131.--Adz-head of jade. 1/3]

No. 89662 [900], from Nuwŭk, is an exceedingly rough adz of similar

shape, but so slightly ground that it is probably one that was laid

aside unfinished. From the battered appearance of the ends it seems to

have been used for a hammer. It is of the same dark jade as the

preceding. No. 89689 [792], from Utkiavwĭñ, is of rather light olive,

opaque jade and a trifle better finished than the type, while No.

89661 [1155], Fig. 131, also from Utkiavwĭñ, is a still better piece

of workmanship, the curve of the faces to the cutting edge being very

graceful. The interesting point about this specimen is that a straight

piece has been cut off from one side by sawing down smoothly from each

face almost to the middle and breaking the piece off. We were informed

that this was done to procure rods of jade for making knife

sharpeners. We were informed that these stones were cut in the same

way as marble and freestone are cut with us, namely, by sawing with a

flat blade of iron and sand and water. A thin lamina of hard bone was

probably used before the introduction of iron. Possibly a reindeer

scapula, cut like the one made into a saw (No. 89476 [1206], Fig.

147), but without teeth, was used for this purpose.

[Illustration: FIG. 132.--Hafted jade adz. 1/2]

That such stone blades were used with a haft is shown by the only

hafted specimen, No. 56628 [214], Fig. 132, from Nuwŭk. This is a

rather small adz. The head of dark green jade differs from those

already described only in dimensions, being 4 inches long, 2.1 wide,

and 1.7 thick. The haft is of reindeer antler and in shape much like

that of No. 56638 [309], but has only one hole for the lashing. The

lashing is of the usual stout seal thong and put on in the usual

fashion. No. 89673 [1423] is an old black adz from Sidaru of the same

pattern as those described, but very smoothly and neatly made. About

one-half of this specimen has been cut off for whetstones, etc.

The next step is to make the lashing more secure by cutting transverse

grooves on the upper face of the head to hold the thong in place. This

has been done on No. 56667 [215], figured in Point Barrow Rept.,

Ethnology, Pl. II, Fig. 5, an adz of dark olive green jade, from

Utkiavwĭñ, which shows two such grooves, broad and shallow, running

across the upper face. Of these two classes the collection contains

thirteen unhafted specimens and one hafted specimen, all of jade. As

cutting these grooves in the stone is a laborious process, the device

of substituting some more easily worked substance for the back part of

the head would naturally suggest itself.

[Illustration: FIG. 133.--Adz-head of jade and bone. 1/3]

[Illustration: FIG. 134.--Adz-head of bone and iron, without eyes.

1/3]

Fig. 133, No. 89658 [1072], from Utkiavwĭñ, has a long blade of black

stone with the butt slightly tapered off and imbedded in a body of

whale’s bone, which has a channel 1 inch wide, for the lashing, cut

round it and a shallow socket on the face to receive the end of the

haft. Adz heads of this same type continued in use till after the

introduction of iron, which was at first utilized by inserting a flat

blade of iron into just such a body, as is shown in Fig. 134

(No. 89877 [752], from the cemetery at Utkiavwĭñ).

[Illustration: FIG. 135.--Adz-head of bone and iron, with vertical

eyes. 1/3]

[Illustration: FIG. 136.--Adz-head of bone and iron, with vertical

eyes. 1/3]

From this type to that shown in Fig. 135 (No. 89876 [696] brought by

the natives from the ruins on the Kulugrua) the transition is easy.

Suppose, for the greater protection of the lashings, we _inclose_ the

channels on the sides of the head--in other words, bore holes instead

of cutting grooves--we have exactly this pattern, namely, vertical

eyes on each side of the head joined by transverse channels on the

upper face. The specimen figured has on each side two oblong slots

with a round eye between them. The blade is of iron, Fig. 136, No.

56640 [260] has two eyes on each side, and shows a different method of

attaching the blade, which is countersunk flush with the upper surface

of the body and secured with three stout iron rivets. The next step is

to substitute horizontal eyes for the vertical ones, so as to have

only one set of holes to thread the lashings through. This is seen in

No. 89869 [878], Fig. 137, from Nuwŭk, which in general pattern

closely resembles No. 89876 [696], but has three large horizontal eyes

instead of the vertical ones. The blade is of iron and the haft of

whale’s bone. The lashing is essentially the same as that of the

modern adz, No. 56638 [309].

[Illustration: FIG. 137.--Hafted bone and iron adz. 1/4]

That this final type of hafting was reached before stone had gone out

of use for such implements is shown by Fig. 138, No. 89839 [769], from

Utkiavwĭñ, which, while very like the last in shape, has a blade of

hard, dark purple slate. The haft is of reindeer antler. The lashing

has the short end _knotted_ to the long part after making the first

round, instead of being slit to receive the latter. Otherwise it is of

the usual pattern. These composite adzes of bone and stone or iron

seemed to have been common at the end of the period when stone was

exclusively used and when iron first came into use in small

quantities, and a good many have been preserved until the present day.

We obtained four hafted and six unhafted specimens, besides seven jade

blades for such composite adzes, which are easily recognizable by

their small size and their shape. They are usually broad and rather

thin, and narrowed to the butt, as is seen in Fig. 139, No. 56685

[71], a beautiful little adz of bright green jade 2.8 inches long and

2.3 wide, from Utkiavwĭñ. No. 56670 [246] also from Utkiavwĭñ, is a

similar blade of greenish jade slightly larger, being 3.4 inches long

and 2 inches wide. No. 89670 [1092] is a tiny blade of hard,

fine-grained black stone, probably oil-soaked jade, only 1.7 inches

long and 1.5 wide. It is very smoothly ground. Such little adzes, we

were told, were especially used for cutting bone. The implement,[N284]

which Nordenskiöld calls a “stone chisel,” found in the ruins of an

old Eskimo house at Cape North, is evidently the head of one of these

little bone adzes, as is plainly seen on comparing this figure with

the larger adzes figured above.

[Footnote N284: Figured in the Voyage of the _Vega_, vol. 1,

p. 444, Fig. 1.]

[Illustration: FIG. 138.--Hafted bone and stone adz. 1/3]

[Illustration: FIG. 139.--Small adz-blade of green jade. 1/2]

I have figured two more composite adzes, which are quite different

from the rest. No. 89838 [1109], Fig. 140, has a blade of neatly

flaked gray flint, but this as well as the unusually straight haft is

newly made. These are fitted to a very old bone body, which when whole

was not over 3 inches long, and was probably part of a little bone

adz. There is no evidence that these people ever used flint adzes.

Fig. 141, No. 89872 [785], is introduced to show how the native has

utilized an old cooper’s adz, of which the eye was probably broken, by

fitting it with a bone body.

[Illustration: FIG. 140.--Hafted adz of bone and flint. 1/3]

While the adzes already described appear to have been the

predominating types, another form was sometimes used. Fig. 142,

No. 89874 [964], from Nuwŭk, represents this form. The haft is of

whale’s rib, 1 foot long, and the head of _bone_, apparently whale’s

scapula, 5.6 inches long and 2.8 inches wide on the edge. There is an

adze in the Museum from the Mackenzie River region with a _steel_

blade of precisely the same pattern. That adzes of this pattern

sometimes had stone blades is probable. No. 89840 [1317], is a

clumsily made _commercial_ tool of this type, with a small head of

greenish slate. It has an unusually straight haft, which is

disproportionately long and thick.

[Illustration: FIG. 141.--Old cooper’s adz, rehafted. 1/3]

All these adzes, ancient and modern, are hafted upon essentially the

same pattern. The short curved haft, the shape of which is

sufficiently well indicated by the figures, seems to have been

generally made of whale’s rib or reindeer antler, both of which have a

natural curve suited to the shape of the haft. A “branch” of a

reindeer’s antler is particularly well suited for the haft of a small

adze. Not only does it have naturally the proper dimensions and a

suitable curve, but it is very easy, by cutting out a small segment of

the “beam” where the “branch” starts from it, to make a flange of a

convenient shape for fitting to the head. Antler is besides easily

obtained, not only when the deer is killed for food, but by picking up

shed antlers on the tundra, and is consequently employed for many

purposes. The haft usually has a knob at the tip to keep the hand from

slipping, and the grip is sometimes roughened with cross cuts or wound

with thong. There are usually as many holes for the lashing as there

are eyes in the head, though there are two holes when the head has

only one large eye. On the bone heads, the surfaces to which the haft

is applied and the channels for the lashings are roughened with cross

cuts to prevent slipping. The lashing always follows the same general

plan, though no two adzes are lashed exactly alike. The plan may be

summarized as follows: One end of the thong makes a turn through one

of the holes in the haft, and around or through the head. This turn is

then secured, usually by passing the long end through a slit in the

short end and hauling this loop taut, sometimes by knotting the short

end to the long part, or by catching the short end down under the next

turn. The long part then makes several turns round or through the head

and through the haft, sometimes also crossing around the latter, and

the whole is then finished off by wrapping the end two or three times

around the turns on one side and tucking it neatly underneath. This is

very like the method of lashing on the heads of the mauls already

described, but the mauls have only one hole in the haft, and there are

rarely any turns around the latter.

[Illustration: FIG. 142.--Adz with bone blade. 1/3]

Jade adz blades, like those already described, have been brought by

Mr. Nelson from Kotzebue Sound, the Diomedes, St. Michaels, etc., and

one came from as far south as the Kuskoquim River.

_Chisels._--We collected a number of small short handled chisels,

resembling the implements called “trinket makers,” of which there are

so many in the National Museum. We never happened to see them in

actual use, but were informed that they were especially designed for

working on reindeer antler. Of the eight specimens collected No. 89302

[884], Fig. 143, has been selected as a type of the antler chisel

(kĭ´ñnusa). The blade is of steel, and the haft is of reindeer antler,

in two longitudinal sections, put together at right angles to the

plane of the blade, held together by a stout round bone treenail 2½

inches from the butt. The square tip of the blade is beveled on both

faces to a rough cutting edge. Fig. 144 (No. 89301) [1000] has a small

blade with an oblique tip _not_ beveled to an edge, and a haft of

walrus ivory yellowed from age, and ornamented with rows of rings,

each with a dot in the center, all incised and colored with red ocher.

The two parts of the haft are fastened together by a stout wooden

treenail and a _stitch_ of whalebone.

[Illustration: FIG. 143.--Antler chisel. 1/2]

[Illustration: FIG. 144.--Antler chisel. 1/2]

[Illustration: FIG. 145.--Spurious tool, flint blade. 1/2]

The rest of the steel-bladed chisels, four in number, are all of about

the same size and hafted with antler. The blades are somewhat

irregular in shape, but all have square or oblique tips and no sharp

edge. Three of them have the sections of the haft put together as

described, and fastened by a treenail and a whipping of seal twine or

sinew braid at the tip. One has the two sections put together in the

plane of the blade and fastened with a large copper rivet, which also

passes through the butt of the blade, and three stout iron ones. The

hafts of all these tools show signs of much handling. The remaining

two specimens have blades of black flint. No. 89637 [1207], has a haft

of walrus ivory, of the usual pattern, fastened together by a bone

treenail and two stitches, one of sinew braid and one of seal thong.

The lashing of seal twine near the tip serves to mend a crack. The

haft is old and rusty about the slot into which the blade is fitted,

showing that it originally had an iron blade. The flint blade was

probably put in to make it seem ancient, as there was a special demand

for prehistoric articles. No. 89653 [1290], Fig. 145, is nothing but a

fanciful tool made to meet this demand. The haft is of light-brown

mountain sheep horn, and the blade of black flint. Such flint-bladed

tools may have been used formerly, but there is no proof that they

were.

_Whalebone shaves._--There is in use at Point Barrow, and apparently

not elsewhere among the Eskimo, a special tool for shaving whalebone,

a substance which is very much used in the form of long, thin strips

for fastening together boat timbers, whipping spear shafts, etc. The

thin, long shavings which curl up like “curled hair,” are carefully

saved and used for the padding between stocking and boot. Whalebone is

also sometimes shaved for this special purpose. The tool is

essentially a little spokeshave about 4 inches long, which is held by

the index and second finger of the right hand, one on each handle,

with the thumb pressed against one end, and is drawn toward the

workman. The collection contains three specimens of the ordinary form

(sávigɐ), represented by No. 89306 [885] (figured in Point Barrow

Report, Ethnology, Pl. III, Fig. 6). This has a steel blade and a haft

of walrus ivory. The upper face of the haft is convex and the under

flat, and the blade, which is beveled only on the upper face, is set

at a slight inclination to the flat face of the haft. The edge of the

blade projects 0.2 inch from the haft above and 0.3 below. The hole at

one end of the haft is for a lanyard to hang it up by. The other two

are of essentially the same pattern, but have hafts of reindeer

antler.

[Illustration: FIG. 146.--Whalebone shave, slate blade. 1/2]

The collection also contains six tools of this description, with stone

blades, but they are all new and very carelessly made, with hafts of

coarse-grained bone. The shape of the tools is shown in Fig. 146, No.

89649 [1213], from Utkiavwĭñ, which has a rough blade of soft, light

greenish slate. The other five have blades of black or gray flint,

roughly flaked. All these blades are glued in with oil dregs. No.

89652 [1225] is like the others in shape, but more neatly made, and is

peculiar in having a blade of hard, compact bone. This is inserted by

sawing a deep, narrow slit along one side of the haft from end to end.

The blade is wedged into the middle of the slit, the ends of which are

neatly filled in with slips of the same material as the haft. This was

the only tool of the kind seen. It is very probable that shaves of

stone were formerly used, though we obtained no genuine specimens. The

use of oblong chips of flint for this purpose would naturally suggest

itself to a savage, and the convenience of fitting these flakes into a

little haft would soon occur to him. No. 89616 [1176] is such an

oblong flint, flaked to an edge on one face, which is evidently old,

and which was said to have been used for shaving whalebone. The

material is black flint. Whalebone is often shaved nowadays with a

common knife. The slab of bone is laid upon the thigh and the edge of

the knife pressed firmly against it, with the blade perpendicular to

the surface of the slab, which is drawn rapidly under it.

_Saws._--If the Eskimo had not already invented the saw before they

became acquainted with the whites they readily adopted the tool even

when they had scanty materials for making it. Crantz[N285] speaks of

“a little lock saw” as one of a Greenlander’s regular tools in his

time, and Egede[N286] mentions handsaws as a regular article of trade.

Capt. Parry[N287] found the natives of Iglulik, in 1821-1823, using a

saw made of a notched piece of iron. On our asking Nĭkawa´alu, one

day, what they had for tools before they got iron he said that they

had drills made of seal bones and saws made of the shoulder blade of

the reindeer. Some time afterwards he brought over a model of such a

saw, which he said was exactly like those formerly used. Fig. 147, No.

89476 [1206], represents this specimen. It is made by cutting off the

anterior edge of a reindeer’s scapula in a straight line parallel to

the posterior edge and cutting fine saw teeth on this thin edge. The

spine is also cut off nearly flat. This makes a tool very much like a

carpenter’s backsaw, the narrow part of the scapula forming a

convenient handle.

[Footnote N285: History of Greenland, vol. 1, p. 149.]

[Footnote N286: Greenland, p. 175.]

[Footnote N287: 2d Voyage, p. 536.]

[Illustration: FIG. 147.--Saw made of deer’s scapula. 1/4]

Fig. 148, No. 56559 [15], shows how other implements were utilized

before it was easy to obtain saws in plenty. It is a common case knife

stamped on the blade, “Wilson, Hawksworth, ----n & Co., Sheffield,”

which perhaps came from the _Plover_, with saw teeth cut on the edge.

It was picked up at the Utkiavwĭñ cemetery, where it had been exposed

with a corpse. Saws are now a regular article of trade, and most of

the natives are provided with them of various styles and makes. The

name for saw is uluă´ktun.

[Illustration: FIG. 148.--Saw made of a case-knife. 1/3]

_Drills and borers._--The use of the bow drill appears to be universal

among the Eskimo. Those at present employed at Point Barrow do not

differ from the large series collected at the Mackenzie and Anderson

rivers by MacFarlane. The drill is a slender rod of steel worked to a

drill point and imbedded in a stout wooden shaft, which is tapered to

a rounded tip. This fits into a stone socket imbedded in a wooden

block, which is held between the teeth, so that the point of the drill

can be pressed down against the object to be drilled by the head,

leaving both hands free to work the short bow, which has a loose

string of thong long enough to make one turn round the shaft. The

collection contains ten of these modern steel or iron drills, fifteen

bows, and seven mouthpieces. No. 89502 [853], figured in Point Barrow

Rept., Ethnology, Pl. II, Fig. 1, has been selected as a typical drill

(niă´ktun). The drill is a cylindrical rod of steel beaten out into a

small lanceolate point, which is filed sharp on the edges. The shaft

is made of hard wood. The remaining drills are of essentially the same

pattern, varying in total length from about 11 inches to 16½.

Fig. 149, No. 89499 [968] shows a somewhat unusual shape of shaft. The

lashings round the large end are to keep it from splitting any more

than it has done already. The drill is of iron and the shaft of

spruce, which was once painted with red ocher.

[Illustration: FIG. 149.--Bow drill. 1/3]

[Illustration: FIG. 150.--Bow drill and mouthpiece. 1/4]

No. 89497 [819] (Fig. 150) has a ferrule of coarse-grained bone neatly

pegged on with two small pegs of the same material. This is unusual

with steel drills. The shaft is of spruce and of the same shape as in

the preceding specimen. No. 89595 [875] (Fig. 151) is figured to show

the way in which the shaft has been mended. A wedge-shaped piece 3½

inches long and 0.3 to 0.4 inch wide has been split out of the large

end and replaced by a fresh piece of wood neatly fitted in and secured

by two tight whippings of sinew braid, each in a deep groove.

No. 89515 [861], figured in Point Barrow Report, Ethnology, Pl. II,

Fig. 2, is a typical bow (pizĭksuá) for use with these drills. It is

of walrus ivory, 16 inches long and oval in section. Through each end

is drilled a transverse hole. A string of seal thong 21 inches long is

looped into one of these holes by passing one end of the thong through

the hole, cutting a slit in it, and passing the other end through

this. The other end is passed through the other hole and knotted at

the tip.

These bows vary slightly in dimensions, but are not less than a foot

or more than 16 inches long, and are almost always of walrus ivory.

No. 89508 [956] (Fig. 152), is an old and rudely made bow of

whalebone, which is more strongly arched than usual, and has the

string attached to notches at the ends instead of into holes. This was

said to belong with an old bone drill, No. 89498 [956]. Both came from

Nuwŭk. These bows are often highly ornamented both by carving and with

incised patterns colored with red ocher or soot. The following figures

are introduced to show some of the different styles of ornamentation.

Fig. 153_a_, No. 56506 [298] is unusually broad and flat and was

probably made for a handle to a tool bag. Such handles, however,

appear to be also used for drill bows. The tips of this bow represent

seals heads, and have good sized sky-blue glass beads inserted for

eyes. The rest of the ornamentation is incised and blackened. Fig.

153_b_, No. 89421 [1260], from Utkiavwĭñ, is a similar bow, which has

incised on the back figures of men and animals, which, perhaps, tell

of some real event. Mr. L. M. Turner informs me that the natives of

Norton Sound keep a regular record of hunting and other events

engraved in this way upon their drill bows, and that no one ever

ventures to falsify these records. We did not learn definitely that

such was the rule at Point Barrow, but we have one bag-handle marked

with whales, which we were told indicated the number killed by the

owner. Fig. 153_c_, No. 89425 [1732], from Utkiavwĭñ, is a similar

bow, ornamented on the back with simply an incised border colored red.

On the other side are the figures of ten bearded seals, cross-hatched

and blackened. These are perhaps a “score.” Fig. 153_d_, No. 89509

[914], from Nuwŭk, is a bow of the common pattern, but ornamented by

carving the back into a toothed keel.

[Illustration: FIG. 151.--Bow drill. 1/4]

Fig. 153_e_, No. 89510 [961], from Utkiavwĭñ, is ornamented on one

side only with an incised pattern, which is blackened. Fig. 153_f_,

No. 89511 [961], also from Utkiavwĭñ, has, in addition to the incised

and blackened pattern, a small transparent sky-blue glass bead inlaid

in the middle of the back. Fig. 153_g_, No. 89512 [836], from the same

place, is a flat bow with the edges carved into scallops. The incised

line along the middle of the back is colored with red ocher. The

string is made of sinew braid.

[Illustration: FIG. 152.--Drill bow. 1/4]

Fig. 154, No. 89777 [1004_b_], which belongs in the “kit” of

Ilû´bw’ga, the Nunatañmiun, previously mentioned, is interesting from

having been lengthened 3¼ inches by riveting on a piece of reindeer

antler at one end. The two pieces are neatly joined in a “lap splice”

about 2 inches long and fastened with three iron rivets. The owner

appears to have concluded that his drill bow was too short when he was

at home, in the interior, where he could obtain no walrus ivory. The

incised pattern on the back is colored with red ocher.

The mouthpiece (kĭ´ñmia) consists of a block of hard stone (rarely

iron), in which is hollowed out a round cup-like socket, large enough

to receive the tip of the drill shaft, imbedded in a block of wood of

a suitable size to hold between the teeth. This block often has curved

flanges on each side, which rest against the cheeks. Such mouthpieces

are common all along the coast from the Anderson River to Norton

Sound, as is shown by the Museum collection. No. 89500 [800], figured

in Point Barrow Report, Ethnology, Pl. II, Fig. 3, is a type of the

flanged mouthpiece. The block is of pine, carved into a thick, broad

arch, with a large block on the inside. Into the top of the arch is

inlaid a piece of gray porphyry with black spots, which is slightly

convex on the surface, so as to project a little above the surface of

the wood. In the middle of the stone is a cup-shaped cavity one-half

inch in diameter and of nearly the same depth. This is a rather large

mouthpiece, being 6 inches across from one end of the arch to the

other.

[Illustration: FIG. 153.--Drill bows. 3/8]

[Illustration: FIG. 154.--Spliced drill bow. 1/4]

There are two other specimens of the same pattern, both rather

smaller. No. 89503 [891], Fig. 150, from Nuwŭk, has the stone of black

and white syenite. This specimen is very old and dirty, and worn

through to the stone on one side, where the teeth have come against

it. No. 89787 [1004_c_], Fig. 155, is almost exactly the same shape as

the type, but has for a socket a piece of iron 1.1 inches square,

hollowed out as usual. The outside of the wood has been painted with

red ocher, but this is mostly worn off. This mouthpiece belonged to

Ilû´bw’ga.

[Illustration: FIG. 155.--Drill mouthpiece, with iron socket. 1/2]

Fig. 156, No. 89505 [892], from Utkiavwĭñ, represents the pattern

which is perhaps rather commoner than the preceding. The wood, which

holds the socket of black and white syenite, is simply an elliptical

block of spruce. The remaining three specimens are of the same pattern

and of the same material as the last, except No. 89507 [908], from

Nuwŭk, in which the wood is oak. As it appears very old, this wood may

have come from the _Plover_.

When not in use, the point of the drill is sometimes protected with a

sheath. One such sheath was obtained, No. 89447 [1112], figured in

Point Barrow Report, Ethnology, Pl. II, Fig. 1. It is of walrus ivory,

3-6 inches long. The end of a piece of thong is passed through the eye

and the other part fastened round the open end with a marline-hitch,

catching down the end. This leaves a lanyard 9¼ inches long, which is

hitched or knotted round the shaft of the drill when the sheath is

fitted over the point.

[Illustration: FIG. 156.--Drill mouthpiece without wings. 1/2]

[Illustration: FIG. 157.--Bone-pointed drill. 1/4]

The drills above described are used for perforating all sorts of

material, wood, bone, ivory, metal, etc., and are almost the only

boring implements used, even awls being unusual. Before the

introduction of iron, the point was made of one of the small bones

from a seal’s leg. We obtained four specimens of these bone drills, of

which two, at least, appear to be genuine. No. 89498 [956], Fig. 157,

is one of these, from Nuwŭk. The shaft is of the ordinary pattern and

made of some hard wood, but the point is a roughly cylindrical rod of

bone, expanding at the point, where it is convex on one face and

concave on the other and beveled on both faces into two cutting edges,

which meet in an acute angle. The larger end of the shaft has been

split and mended by whipping it for about three-quarters of an inch

with sinew braid. No. 89518 [1174], is apparently also genuine, and is

like the preceding, but beveled only on the concave face of the point,

which is rather obtuse. No. 89519 [1258] was made for the market. It

has a rude shaft of whale’s bone, but a carefully made bone point of

precisely the pattern of the modern iron ones. No. 89520 [1182] has no

shaft, and appears to be an old unfinished drill fitted into a

carelessly made bone ferrule.

The drill at the present day is always worked with a bow, which allows

one hand to be used for steadying the piece of work. We were informed,

however, that formerly a cord was sometimes used without the bow, but

furnished with a transverse handle at each end.

We collected six little handles of ivory, carved into some ornamental

shape, each with an eye in the middle to which a thong could be

attached. All were old, and we never saw them in use. The first two

were collected at an early period of our acquaintance with these

people, and from our imperfect knowledge of the language we got the

impression that they were handles to be attached to a harpoon line.

We were not long, however in finding out that the harpoon has no such

appendage, and when the other four came in a year later, at a time

when the press of other work prevented careful inquiry into their use,

we supposed that they were meant for handles to the lines used for

dragging dead seals, as they somewhat resemble such an implement. On

our return home, when I had opportunities for making a careful study

of the collection, I found that none of the drag lines, either in our

own collection or in those of the Museum, had handles of this

description. On the other hand, I found many similar implements in Mr.

Nelson’s collection labeled “drill-cord handles,” and finally one pair

(No. 36319, from Kashunuk, near Cape Romanzoff), still attached to the

drill cord. These handles are almost identical in shape with No. 89458

[835], from Utkiavwĭñ. This leaves no doubt in my mind that the

so-called “drag-line handles” in our collection are nothing more than

handles for drill cords, now wholly obsolete and supplanted by the

bows already described. I have figured all six of these handles to

show the different patterns of ornamentation. They are all made of

walrus ivory, and are all “odd” handles, no two being mates. Fig.

158_a_ (No. 56526) [86], is 5.2 inches long, and light blue beads are

inserted for eyes in the seal’s heads. The eye for the drill cord is

made by boring two median holes at the middle of one side so that they

meet under the surface and make a longitudinal channel.

[Illustration: FIG. 158.--Handles for drill cords. 1/4]

Fig. 158_b_ (No. 56527 [23] from Utkiavwĭñ), is 4.3 inches long, and

is very accurately carved into the image of a man’s right leg and

foot, dressed in a striped deerskin boot. The end opposite to the foot

is the head of some animal, perhaps a wolf, with bits of dark wood

inlaid for eyes. The eye is a simple large transverse hole through the

thigh.

Fig. 158_c_ (No. 89455 [929] from Nuwŭk), is 5.9 inches long. The eye

is drilled lengthwise through a large lump projecting from the middle

of one side. Small blue beads are inlaid for the eyes, and one to

indicate the male genital opening.

Fig. 158_d_ (No. 89456 [930] from Nuwŭk) is like No. 56527 [23], but

represents the left foot and is not so artistically carved. It is 3.7

inches long.

Fig. 158_e_ (No. 89457 [925] from Nuwŭk) is 4.7 inches long, and

resembles No. 89455 [929], but has instead of the seal’s tail and

flippers a large ovoid knob ornamented with incised and blackened

rings. The “eye” is bored transversely.

Fig. 158_f_ (No. 89458 [835] from Utkiavwĭñ) differs from No. 89455

[925] in having a transverse eye, and being less artistically carved.

Bits of lead are inlaid for the eyes. It is 4.4 inches long. The name

of this implement is kû´ñ-i.

We obtained six specimens of an old flint tool, consisting of a rather

long thick blade mounted in a straight haft about 10 inches long, of

which we had some difficulty in ascertaining the use. We were at last

able to be quite sure that they were intended for drilling, or rather

reaming out, the large cavity in the base of the ivory head of a whale

harpoon, which fits upon the conical tip of the fore-shaft. The shape

of the blade is well fitted for this purpose. It is not unlikely that

such tools, worked as these are, by hand, preceded the bone drills for

boring all sorts of objects, and that the habit of using them for

making the whale harpoon was kept up from the same conservatism

founded on superstition which surrounds the whole whale fishery. (See

under “Whale fishing,” where the subject will be more fully

discussed.) No. 89626 [870], figured in Point Barrow Report,

Ethnology, Pl. II, Fig. 4, is a typical implement of this class

(ītaun, i´tûgetsau´). The blade is of black flint, flaked, 2 inches

long, imbedded in the end of a haft of spruce, 10.5 inches long. The

blade is held in place by whipping the cleft end of the haft with

sinew braid.

Two of the other specimens, No. 89627 [937] and No. 89628 [912], are

of essentially the same pattern and material, but have rounded hafts.

No. 89629 [960] and No. 89630 [1068], Figs. 159_a_, 159_b_, have

blades of the same pattern, but have hafts fitted for use with the

mouthpiece and bow, showing that sometimes, at least in later times,

these tools were so used. No. 89625 [1217] (Fig. 160) has no haft, but

the blade, which is rather narrow in proportion to its length (2.3

inches by 0.5), is fitted into a short ferrule of antler, with a

little dovetail on the edge for attaching it to the haft.

Of awls we saw only one specimen, which, perhaps, ought rather to be

considered a little hand drill. This is No. 89308 [1292], Fig. 161,

from Utkiavwĭñ. The point is the tip of a common three-cornered file,

sharpened down. It is imbedded in a handle of fossil ivory which has

turned a light yellowish brown from age. Its total length is 2.8

inches.

[Illustration: FIG. 159.--Flint-bladed reamers. 1/3]

_Hammers._--At the present day nearly every man has been able to

procure an iron hammer of some kind, which he uses with great

handiness. Before the introduction of iron, in addition to the bone

and stone mauls above described as bone crushers, unhafted pebbles of

convenient shape were also employed. No. 56661 [274] is such a stone.

It is an ovoid water-worn pebble of greenish gray quartzite, 3½ inches

long. The ends are battered, showing how it had been used. It was

brought from one of the rivers in the interior by one of the natives

of Utkiavwĭñ.

_Files._--Files of all kinds are eagerly sought after by the natives,

who use them with very great skill and patience, doing nearly all

their metal work with these tools. For instance, one particularly

ingenious native converted his Winchester rifle from a rim fire to a

central fire with nothing but a file. To do this he had to make a new

firing pin, as the firing pin of the rim-fire gun is too short to

reach the head of the cartridge. He accomplished this by accurately

cutting off, to the proper length, an old worn-out three-cornered

file. He then filed off enough of each edge so that the rod fitted

evenly in the cylindrical hole where the firing pin works. The work

was done so carefully that the new firing pin worked perfectly, and he

had only to complete the job by cutting off his central fire cartridge

shells to a proper length to fit the chamber of the gun.

[Illustration: FIG. 160.--Flint-bladed reamer. 3/4]

[Illustration: FIG. 161.--Awl. 3/4]

They have almost no knowledge of working metal with the aid of heat,

as is natural from the scarcity of fuel. I have, however, seen them

roughly temper small articles, such as fire steels, etc., by heating

them in the fire and quenching them in cold water. One native very

neatly mended a musket barrel which had been cracked by firing too

heavy a charge. He cut a section from another old barrel of somewhat

larger caliber, which he heated until it had expanded enough to slip

down over the crack, and then allowed it to shrink on.

[Illustration: FIG. 162.--Jade whetstones. 1/2]

_Whetstones_ (ipiksaun).--Knives are generally sharpened with a file,

cutting a bevel, as before mentioned, on one face of the blade only.

To “set” or “turn” the edge they use pieces of steel of various

shapes, generally with a hole drilled in them so that they can be hung

to the breeches belt by a lanyard. One man, for instance, used about

half of a razor blade for this purpose, and another a small horseshoe

magnet. In former times they employed a very elegant implement,

consisting of a slender rod of jade from 3 to 7 inches long, with a

lanyard attached to an eye in the larger end. These were sometimes

made by cutting a piece from one of the old jade adzes in the manner

already described. There are a few of these whetstones still in use at

the present day, and they are very highly prized. We succeeded in

obtaining nine specimens, of which No. 89618 [801], Fig. 162_a_, has

been selected as the type. It is of hard black stone, probably jade,

6.3 inches long. Through the wider end is drilled a large eye, into

which is neatly spliced one end of a stout flat braid of sinew 4¾

inches long.

The remaining whetstones are of very much the same pattern. I have

figured five of them, to show the slight variations. Fig. 162_b_

(No. 56662 [393], from Utkiavwĭñ) is of light grayish green jade,

smoothly polished and 4.1 inches long. It is chamfered only on the

small end at right angles to the breadth, and has the eye prolonged

into ornamental grooves on the two opposite faces. The long lanyard is

of common sinew braid. No. 56663 [229] (from the same village) is of

olive green, slightly translucent jade, 6.8 inches long, and

elliptical in section, also chamfered only at the small end. The

lanyard, which is a strip of seal thong 9 inches long, is secured in

the eye, as described before, with two slits, one in the standing part

through which the end is passed and the other in the end with the

standing part passed through it. No. 89617 [1262] (from Sidaru) is of

olive green, translucent jade, 6.1 inches long, and shaped like the

type, but chamfered only at the small end. The lanyard of seal thong

is secured in the eye by a large round knot in one end. No. 89619

[837] (from Utkiavwĭñ) is of bright green, translucent jade, 5.1

inches long, and unusually thick, its greatest diameter being 0.6

inch. The tip is gradually worked off to an oblique edge, and it has

ornamental grooves running through the eye like No. 56662 [393].

[Illustration: FIG. 163.--Jade whetstones. 3/4]

No. 89620 [865] (from Nuwŭk) is shaped very much like the type, but

has the tip tapered off almost to a point. It is of olive green,

slightly translucent jade and is 7 inches long. The lanyard is a piece

of sinew braid with the ends knotted together and the bight looped

into the eye. A large sky-blue glass bead is slipped on over both

parts of the lanyard and pushed up close to the loop. Fig. 163_a_

(No. 89621 [757], from Utkiavwĭñ) is very short and broad (3.6 inches

by 0.6), is chamfered at both ends, and has the ornamental grooves at

the eye. The material is a hard, opaque, bluish gray stone, veined

with black.

A whetstone of similar material was brought by Lieut. Stoney from

Kotzebue Sound. The long lanyard is of sinew braid. Fig. 163_b_

(No. 89622 [951], also from Utkiavwĭñ) is a very small, slender

whetstone, 3.3 inches long, of dark olive green semitranslucent jade,

polished. The tip is not chamfered, but tapers to a blunt point. It

has the ornamental grooves at the eye. These are undoubtedly the

“stones for making . . . whetstones, or these ready-made” referred to

by Dr. Simpson (Op. cit., p. 266) as brought by the Nunatañmiun from

the people of the “Ko-wak River.” A few such whetstones have been

collected on other parts of the northwest coast as far south as the

northern shore of Norton Sound. The broken whetstone mentioned above

is of a beautiful bluish green translucent jade. Bits of stone are

also used for whetstones, such as No. 89786 [1004_f_], which belong in

Ilû´bw’ga’s tool bag. They are two rough, oblong bits of hard dark

gray slate, apparently split off a flat, weathered surface.

[Illustration: FIG. 164.--Wooden tool boxes. 1/6]

_Tool boxes and bags._--We collected six specimens of a peculiarly

shaped long, narrow box, carved from a single block of wood, which we

were informed were formerly used for holding tools. They have gone out

of fashion at the present day, and there are but few of them left. No.

89860 [1152], Fig. 164_a_, represents the typical shape of this box.

It is carved from a single block of pine. The cover is slightly

hollowed on the under side and is held on by two double rings of twine

(one of seal twine and the other of sinew braid), large enough to slip

over the end. Each ring is made by doubling a long piece of twine so

that the two parts are equal, passing one end through the bight and

knotting it to the other. The box and cover seem to have been painted

inside and out with red ocher. On the outside this is mostly faded and

worn off and covered with dirt, but inside it has turned a dark brown.

Fig. 164_b_ (No. 89858 [1319], from Utkiavwĭñ), is a similar box, 21.1

inches long. The cover is held on by a string passing over little

hooked ivory studs close to the edge of the box. There were originally

five of these studs, two at each end and one in the middle of one

side. The string started from one of these studs at the pointed end.

This stud is broken and the string fastened into a hole close to it.

To fasten on the cover the string was carried over and hooked under

the opposite stud, then crossed over the cover to the middle stud,

then across to the end stud on the other side, and the loop on the end

hooked onto the last stud.

[Illustration: FIG. 165.--Large wooden tool boxes. 1/8]

No. 89859 [1318] is a smaller box (19 inches long) of the same

pattern, with only four studs. The cover has three large blue glass

beads, like those used for labrets, inlaid in a line along the middle.

No. 89858 [1144], from Utkiavwĭñ, is the shape of the type, but has a

thicker cover and six stud holes in the margin. No. 89861 [1151], Fig.

165_a_, from the same place, is shaped something like a violin case,

22.2 inches long. The cover has been split and “stitched” together

with whalebone, and a crack in the broader end of the box has been

neatly mended by pegging on, with nine little wooden treenails,

a strap of reindeer antler of the same width as the edge and following

the curve of its outline. There are four studs, two at each end. The

string is made fast to one at the smaller end, carried over to the

opposite one, then crossed to the opposite stud at the other end and

back under the last one, a bight of the end being tucked under the

string between the two last-mentioned studs. The string is made of

sinew braid, rope-yarns, and a long piece of seal thong. It was

probably at first all of sinew braid, and, gradually growing too short

by being broken and knotted together again, was lengthened out with

whatever came to hand.

No. 89862 [1593], Fig. 165_b_, is a large box, of a very peculiar

shape, best understood from the figure. The outside is much weathered,

but appears to have been roughly carved, and the excavation of the box

and cover is very rudely done, perhaps with a stone tool. A hole in

the larger end is mended by a patch of wood chamfered off to fit the

hole and sewed on round the edges with “over-and-over” stitches of

whalebone. The string is arranged in permanent loops, under which the

cover can be slipped off and on.

[Illustration: FIG. 166.--Tool bag of wolverine skin. 1/4]

The arrangement, which is rather complicated, is as follows: On one

side of the box, one-half inch from the edge and about 7 inches from

each end, are two pairs of holes, one-half inch apart. Into each pair

is fastened, by means of knots on the inside, a loop of very stout

sinew braid, 3 inches long, and similar loops of seal thong, 5 inches

long, are fastened into corresponding pairs of holes on the other

side. A piece of seal thong is fastened with a becket-hitch into the

loop of seal thong at the small end of the box, passes through both

braid loops on the other side, and is carried over through the loop of

seal thong at the large end. The end of the thong is knotted into one

of the pairs of holes left by the breaking away of a stitch at the

edge of the wooden patch above mentioned.

All these boxes are very old and were painted inside with red ocher,

which has turned dark brown from age. Tools are nowadays kept in a

large oblong, flat satchel, ĭkqûxbwĭñ, which has an arched handle of

ivory or bone stretched lengthwise across the open mouth. These bags

are always made of skin with the hair out, and the skins of

wolverines’ heads are the most desired for this purpose. The

collection contains four such bags. No. 89794 [1018], Fig. 166, is the

type of these bags. The bottom of the bag is a piece of short-haired

brown deerskin, with the hair out, pieced across the middle. The sides

and ends are made of the skins of four wolverine heads, without the

lower jaw, cut off at the nape and spread out and sewed together side

by side with the hair outward and noses up. One head comes on each end

of the bag and one on each side, and the spaces between the noses are

filled out with gussets of deerskin and wolverine skin. A narrow strip

of the latter is sewed round the mouth of the bag. The handle is of

walrus ivory, 14½ inches long and about one-half inch square. There is

a vertical hole through it one-half inch from each end, and at one end

also a transverse hole between this and the tip. One end of the thong

which fastens the handle to the bag is drawn through this hole and cut

off close to the surface. The other end is brought over the handle and

down through the vertical hole and made fast with two half-hitches

into a hole through the septum of the nose of the head at one end of

the bag. The other end of the handle is fastened to the opposite nose

in the same way, but the thong is secured in the hole by a simple knot

in the end above. On one side of the handle is an unfinished incised

pattern.

[Illustration: FIG. 167.--Tool bag of wolverine skin. 1/4]

Fig. 167, No. 89776 [1004], is a similar bag, made of four wolverine

heads with the lower jaws attached. The bottom is of stout leather

without hair. The mouth is tied up by a bit of thong passed through

the nostrils of the two side heads so that it can spread open only

about 1¾ inches. The handle is broad and flat, made of walrus ivory,

and ornamented with an incised border on top. One end is broken and

pieced out with reindeer antler secured by a clumsy “fishing” of seal

twine, which is passed through holes in the two parts. The pieces seem

to have been riveted together as in the drill bow, No. 89777 [1004_b_]

(Fig. 154), which belongs to this bag. There is a rivet still sticking

in the antler. It is possible that the ivory may have broken in the

process of riveting the two together. The handle has two vertical

holes at each end for the thong, by which it is fastened to the end

noses, both in the median line and joined by a short channel on top of

the handle. This bag was the property of the Nunatañmiun Ilûbw’ga, so

frequently mentioned, and was purchased with all its contents.

[Illustration: _a_ _b_ FIG. 168.--Drills belonging to the tool bag.

1/3]

These are two bow drills, one large and one small (Figs. 168_a_ and

168_b_, Nos. 89778 and 89779 [1004_a_]); a drill bow (Fig. 154, No.

89777 [1004_b_]); a mouthpiece (Fig. 155, No. 89787 [1004_c_]); a

large crooked knife with a sheath (Fig. 114, No. 89780 [1004_d_]); a

flint flaker (No. 89752 [1004_e_]); a comb for deerskins (Fig. 169,

No. 89781 [1005]); a haircomb made of antler (No. 89785 [1006]);

a fishhook (No. 89783 [1007]); and a small seal harpoon head

(No. 89784 [1008]).

[Illustration: FIG. 169.--Comb for deerskins in the tool bag. 1/2]

No. 89796 [1118], from Nuwŭk, is of rather unusual materials. The

bottom is of brown reindeer skin and the sides and ends are the heads

of two wolves and a red fox. The wolf heads meet on one side, and the

fox head is put in between them on the other. The fox head has no

lower jaw, and one wolf head has only the left half of the lower jaw.

The vacant spaces around the mouth are filled by triangular gussets of

wolf and reindeer skin. The eyeholes are patched on the inside with

deerskin. It has no handle. No. 89795 [1309], the remaining bag, is of

the usual pattern, but carelessly made of small pieces of deerskin,

with a handle of coarse-grained whale’s bone. It was probably made for

sale.

I have figured four handles of such bags to show the style of

ornamentation. Fig. 170_a_(No. 89420 [1111], from Nuwŭk) has incised

figures of men and reindeer on the back, once colored with ocher, of

which traces can still be seen. This is perhaps a hunting score. (See

remarks on this subject under “Bow drills.”) Fig. 170_b_ (No. 89423

[996], from Utkiavwĭñ) is a very elaborate handle, with scalloped

edges and fluted back, which is also ornamented with an incised

pattern colored with red ocher. The other side is covered with series

of the incised circles, each with a dot in the center, so frequently

mentioned. Fig. 170_c_ (No. 89424 [890], from Nuwŭk) has on the under

side two rows of figures representing the flukes and “smalls” of

whales. This is the specimen already mentioned, which the natives

called an actual score. The series of twenty-six tails were said to be

the record of old Yûksĭ´ña (“Erksinra” of Dr. Simpson), the so-called

“chief” at Nuwŭk. All the above handles are of walrus ivory, and have

been in actual use. Fig. 170_c_ (No. 56513 [43], from Utkiavwĭñ) is a

handle of different material (reindeer antler) and of somewhat

different pattern. One end is neatly carved into an exceedingly

accurate image of the head of a reindeer which has shed its antlers,

with small blue beads inlaid for the eyes. The back of the handle is

ornamented with an incised pattern colored with red ocher. We were

told that such handles were sometimes fitted to the wooden buckets,

but I never saw one so used.

[Illustration: FIG. 170.--Bag handles.]

[Illustration: FIG. 171.--Bag of leather.]

No. 89798 [1075], Fig. 171, is a bag of rather unusual pattern, the

only one of the kind we saw. The bottom is a single round piece,

9 inches in diameter, of what seems to be split skin of the bearded

seal, flesh side out, and the rest of the bag is of white-tanned seal

leather. The sides are of five broad pieces (6, 4½, 4, 5½, and 5

inches broad at the bottom, respectively, narrowing to 2½, 1½, 1¼, 2,

and 2⅓, respectively, at the top), alternating with five straight

strips, respectively 1½, 1, 1⅓, 1¼, and 1½ inches broad. The edges of

these strips overlap the edges of the broad pieces, and are neatly

stitched with two threads, as on the soles of the waterproof boots.

The outer thread, which is caught in the loop of each stitch of the

other, is a slender filament of black whale-bone. This produces a sort

of embroidery. The neck is stitched to the bag with the same seam, but

the hem at the mouth is merely “run” round with sinew. This bag was

probably for holding small tools and similar articles.