Most of the implements of the Eskimo are made of some part of the
animals which they pursue. The skins are used for clothing, for building
purposes, and for covering the frames of boats. Many implements are made
of bone, others of walrus tusks or narwhal horn. As wood is extremely
scarce, bone or other parts of animals must make up the deficiency.
I shall here describe the methods of preparing these materials.
[Illustration: FIG. 459. Butcher’s knife with bone handle. (National
Museum, Washington. 34080.) ¼]
The skin of the seal (_Pagomys fœtidus_) is dressed in different ways,
according to the purpose for which it is intended. In skinning the
animal a longitudinal cut is made across the belly with a common
butcher’s knife (saving). Most natives have procured this useful
instrument and even in olden times a considerable number had found their
way from Hudson Bay territory to their countries. The large knives of
their own manufacture (pilaut) are of similar form, a metal edge being
inserted into an ivory blade. Figure 459 is a more modern knife, an iron
blade being fastened to a bone handle.
The skin, with the blubber, is cut from the flesh with the same knife,
or still more easily with the pana, the old device of which is
represented in Fig. 460 _a_ (Parry II, p. 550). This knife is about one
foot and a half long (Parry II, p. 503). The use of the small prongs
near the blade was not explained by Parry. In Fig. 460 _b_ is presented
a pana from the eastern coast of Hudson Bay, collected by Dr. R. Bell;
the handle is made of bone, the blade of iron. The flippers are cut off
at the joints, and thus the whole skin is drawn off in a single piece.
In dressing the animal the natives open the belly and first scoop out
the blood, then the entrails are taken out, the ribs are separated from
the breast bone and from the vertebrae, the fore flippers (with the
shoulders and the hind flippers) are taken out, the only part remaining
being the head, the spinal column, and the rump bone. Generally these
are not eaten, but are used for dogs’ food.
[Illustration: FIG. 460. Pana or knife for dissecting game, _a_
(From Parry II, p. 548.) _b_ (American Museum of Natural History.)]
The knife (ulo) used by the women serves to clean and prepare the skins.
This implement, with which almost all the cutting is done, is shaped
like a crescent, the handle being attached to the center, and greatly
resembles a mincing knife. Fig. 461 represents the form which is now in
use. Fig. 462 is a very old ulo handle from a stone circle on
Qeqertuqdjuaq (Cape Broughton). It is made of bone and has a slit for
the slate blade. It is worth remarking that this blade had not been
riveted to the handle, but fastened with a kind of glue (see p. 526).
There are a few arrow and harpoon heads the blades of which are inserted
in the same manner; the bone is heated and the blade is inserted while
it is hot. As it is cooling the slit becomes narrower and the blade is
firmly squeezed into the bone handle. Part of a slate blade, which had
been riveted to the handle, is shown in Fig. 463. Fig. 464 represents a
handle from a recent grave.
[Illustration: FIG. 461. Form of ulo now in use. (Museum für
Völkerkunde, Berlin. IV A 6733.) ⅔]
[Illustration: FIG. 462. Old ulo with top of handle broken off from
Cape Broughton, Davis Strait. (Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin.) 1/1]
[Illustration: FIG. 463. Fragment of an ulo blade of slate. (Museum
für Völkerkunde, Berlin. IV A 6714.) 1/1]
[Illustration: FIG. 464. Ulo handle from recent grave. (National
Museum, Washington. 34137.)]
In preparing the skin the women spread it over a piece of whalebone
(asimautang), a small board, or a flat stone, and sit down before it,
resting on their knees, the feet bent under the thighs. They hold the
skin at the nearest edge and, pushing the ulo forward, remove the
blubber from it and deposit the latter in a small tub which stands near
the board. As they proceed to the opposite end of the skin, the finished
part is rolled up and held in the left hand.
[Illustration: FIG. 465. Modern tesirqun or scraper. (Museum für
Völkerkunde, Berlin. IV A 6734.)]
[Illustration: FIG. 466. Old style of tesirqun or scraper. (Museum
für Völkerkunde, Berlin.)]
If the skin is to be used with the hair on it, the tough membrane (mami)
which covers the inner side is removed in the same way as the blubber
and, after it has been carefully patched up and holes have been cut all
around the edge, is stretched over a gravelly place or on snow by means
of long pegs (pauktun), which hold it a few inches above the ground,
thus allowing the air to circulate underneath it. The skin itself is
washed and rubbed with gravel, snow, or ice and every hole made by the
bullet or by the spear or in preparing it is sewed up. It very seldom
happens that the women in preparing it damage the skin or even the thin
mami. It is particularly difficult to split the skin near a hole. First
they finish the work all around it and then carefully sever the membrane
at its edge. The skin is dried in the same way as the membrane. In the
early part of spring, though it may still be very cold, a few choice
young sealskins are dried on snow walls which face to the south. In
order thoroughly to dry a sealskin one fine warm spring day is needed.
If the Eskimo are greatly in need of skins they dry them in winter over
the lamps. A frame is made of four poles, lashed together, according to
the size of the skin. A thong passes through the slits along its edge
and around the frame, keeping the skin well stretched. Thus it is placed
over the lamps or near the roof of the hut. However, it is disagreeable
work to dry the skins inside the huts, and, as they are much inferior to
those which are dried on the ground, the Eskimo avoid it if they can.
When so prepared the sealskins are only fit for covering tents, making
bags, &c.; they are far too hard to be used for clothing, for which
purpose the skin of yearlings is almost exclusively used. The young
seals, having shed for the first time, have a very handsome coat, the
hair being of a fine texture and much longer than in older animals. From
the middle of May until late in summer their skins are most suitable for
the manufacture of summer clothing, but it is necessary to protect the
carcasses of the killed animals from the burning rays of the sun as soon
as possible or the skin would be quickly spoiled.
After being dried they are cleaned with the sharp scraper (tesirqun),
the modern device of which is represented in Fig. 465. It consists of a
handle having a round back and a flat front, with two grooves for the
knuckles of the first and second fingers, while the thumb and the other
fingers clasp the handle. The scraper itself consists of a rounded piece
of tin riveted to the handle. The old scraper (Fig. 466) was made of a
deer’s shoulder or of some other bone. I have never seen any that were
made of a thigh bone, similar to those found by Lucien M. Turner in
Ungava Bay.
After being scraped the skin is soaked in salt water and washed again.
As soon as it is dry it is softened with the straight scraper
(seligoung) (Fig. 467).
[Illustration: FIG. 467. Seligoung or scraper used for softening
skins. (Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin. IV A 6697.)]
Fig. 468 shows some very old stone scrapers found in graves. As the
stones are sharpened it is probable that they were used for cleaning the
skins. The hole in the right side of the handle is used for the second
finger, the grooves on the back for the third and fourth. The bone is
fastened to the handle by whalebone straps or thongs.
Skins of _Phoca annellata_, _Phoca cristata_, _and Phoca grœnlandica_
are prepared in the same way.
Those which are intended for kayak covers, boots, mittens, quivers, &c.
are prepared in a different way. They are either put into hot water or
laid in a brook for a few days until the hair begins to loosen. Then
both sides are worked with the ulo, in order to clean and shave them.
When the hair is removed they are dried and made pliable in the same way
as has been described. If it is intended to make the skin as soft as
possible it is allowed to become putrid before it is cleansed. Then the
hair and the blubber are removed, and afterwards it is left to hang in
the sun for a few days until it acquires a light color.
[Illustration: FIG. 468. Old stone scrapers found in graves.
(National Museum, Washington, _a_, _b_, 34083; _c_, 34084; _d_,
34085.) ⅔]
The large ground seal (_Phoca barbata_) is skinned in a different
manner. Its skin is very thick, thicker even than sole leather, and
therefore extremely durable and suitable for all sorts of lines,
particularly traces, lashings, and harpoon lines, and for soles,
drinking cups, and boat covers. This seal is very large, sometimes
attaining a length of ten feet. The skin of the back and of the breast
dries unequally, and therefore a piece covering the throat and breast is
taken out before the rest is skinned, and the parts are dried
separately. If it is to be used for lines it is cut by making girdles
about six inches in width around the body. The hair and the blubber are
removed from these cylindrical rings, from which lines are made by
cutting spirally, a strip seventy or eighty feet long being thus
obtained. This line is stretched as taut as possible between two rocks,
and while drying it undergoes an enormous tension. Before being taken
from the rocks the edges are rounded and cleaned with a knife.
Walrus hide is always cut up before being prepared. As soon as the
walrus is killed it is cut into as many parts as there are partners in
the hunt, every part being rolled up in a piece of skin and carried home
in it. Sometimes the skin is used for making boats, but generally it is
cut into lines. Both kinds of hide, that of the walrus and that of the
ground seal, are as stiff as a board when dried and require much work
before being fit for use. They are chewed by the natives until they
become thin and pliable. The whole skin must be chewed in this way
before it can be used for soles and boat covers. Afterwards it is
scraped with the tesirqun and softened with the straight scraper. The
new thongs, after being dried between the rocks, must also be chewed
until they become sufficiently pliable, after which they are
straightened by a stretcher that is held with the feet (Fig. 469).
Frequently they are only pulled over the sole of the boot for this
purpose, the man taking hold of the line at two points and pulling the
intermediate part by turns to the right and to the left over the sole of
the foot.
[Illustration: FIG. 469. Stretcher for lines. (National Museum,
Washington. 9836.) 1/1]
Another kind of line is cut from the hide of the white whale, which is
skinned in the same way as the ground seal, but, as it must be slit on
the spinal column, the single pieces of line are much shorter, and they
cannot be used to the same extent as seal lines. Some lines are cut from
the skins of _Pagomys fœtidus_, but these are weak and greatly inferior
to lines of ground seal hide.
Deerskins are dried in summer and dressed after the ice has formed. Like
all other kinds of skins they are not tanned, but curried. They are hung
up among the rafters of the hut, and the workers--in Oqo and Akudnirn
the women, in Hudson Bay the men--take off their jackets and begin
preparing them with the sharp scraper. After being cleaned in this way
they are thoroughly dried, either by hanging them near the roof of the
hut or, according to Gilder, by wrapping them around the upper part of
the body next to the skin, after which they are again scraped with the
tesirqun. This done, the flesh side is wetted, the skin is wrapped up
for half a day or a day, and afterwards undergoes a new scraping. Then
it is chewed, rubbed, and scraped all over, thus acquiring its
pliability, softness, and light color.
In the spring the skins of bears and of seals are sometimes dried on
large frames which are exposed to the sun, the skins being tied to the
frames with thongs. Smaller quadrupeds, as foxes and ermines, are
skinned by stripping the entire animal through its mouth without making
a single cut in the skin. Birds are opened at the breast and the body is
taken out through this small hole, the head, wings, and legs being cut
off at the neck and the other joints. Ducks are frequently skinned by
cutting the skin around the head and the outer joints of the wings and
legs and stripping it off. The skins are cleaned by sucking out the fat
and chewing them.
Skins of salmon are used for water proof bags; intestines of seals,
particularly those of ground seals, are carefully dried and after being
sewed together are used for sails, windows, and kayak jackets.
[Illustration: FIG. 470. Ivory needle. (National Museum, Washington.
34135.) 1/1]
[Illustration: FIG. 471. Ivory needle case from Cumberland Sound.
(Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin. 6832.) 1/1]
[Illustration: FIG. 472. Common pattern of needle case. Iglulik.
(From Parry II, p. 548.)]