The Central Eskimo Part 11

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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 461. Form of ulo now in use. (Museum fur Volkerkunde, Berlin. IV A 6733.) ?]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 462. Old ulo with top of handle broken off from Cape Broughton, Davis Strait. (Museum fur Volkerkunde, Berlin.) 1/1]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 463. Fragment of an ulo blade of slate. (Museum fur Volkerkunde, Berlin. IV A 6714.) 1/1]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 465. Modern tesirqun or sc.r.a.per. (Museum fur Volkerkunde, Berlin. IV A 6734.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 466. Old style of tesirqun or sc.r.a.per. (Museum fur Volkerkunde, 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 pa.s.ses 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 carca.s.ses 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 sc.r.a.per (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 sc.r.a.per itself consists of a rounded piece of tin riveted to the handle. The old sc.r.a.per (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 sc.r.a.ped the skin is soaked in salt water and washed again.

As soon as it is dry it is softened with the straight sc.r.a.per (seligoung) (Fig. 467).

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 467. Seligoung or sc.r.a.per used for softening skins. (Museum fur Volkerkunde, Berlin. IV A 6697.)]

Fig. 468 shows some very old stone sc.r.a.pers 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 grnlandica_ 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 468. Old stone sc.r.a.pers found in graves.

(National Museum, Washington, _a_, _b_, 34083; _c_, 34084; _d_, 34085.) ?]

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 sc.r.a.ped with the tesirqun and softened with the straight sc.r.a.per. 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 ftidus_, 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 sc.r.a.per. 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 sc.r.a.ped 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 sc.r.a.ping. Then it is chewed, rubbed, and sc.r.a.ped 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 470. Ivory needle. (National Museum, Washington.

34135.) 1/1]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 471. Ivory needle case from c.u.mberland Sound.

(Museum fur Volkerkunde, Berlin. 6832.) 1/1]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 472. Common pattern of needle case. Iglulik.

(From Parry II, p. 548.)]

SUNDRY IMPLEMENTS.

The sewing is done with thread made of deer or white whale sinews.

Particularly are those sinews at the back dried and when intended for use they can easily be split as thin as required. At present steel needles are in general use. Wherever they are wanting ivory ones of the same pattern are used (Fig. 470). The thread is fastened to the eyehole by a kind of loop, the short end being twisted around the longer one.

k.u.mlien described a needle of a very different device (p. 25):

This tool was almost exactly like an awl in shape, but had an eye near the point. They must have had to thread this instrument for each st.i.tch. The needle part was apparently of deer horn and the handle of walrus ivory.

Probably it was used like a packing needle for sewing tent covers, &c.

The needles (mirqun) are kept in ivory needle cases (umi'ujang). The case represented in Fig. 471 is from a grave in c.u.mberland Sound. The grooves on both sides are evidently intended for a leather strap which is to be tied around it. This specimen is closed at the bottom and had a stopper for closing the mouth. Fig. 472 is a more common pattern. The ivory piece forms a tube through which a leather strap pa.s.ses. The needles are stuck into the leather and drawn into the tube. Small ivory implements and ornaments are attached to both ends of the strap.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 473. Tikiq or thimble. (National Museum, Washington. 10181.) 1/1]

Thimbles (tikiq) (Fig. 473) are made of an oblong piece of ground sealskin, fitting to the point of the first finger. A rim is cut around half of its circ.u.mference and thus it can be drawn over the finger. The women sew by pulling the thread toward them and making an overcast seam.

Whalebone is used for making elastic thongs and in the place of wood; for example, for kayak ribs, for the rim of the kayak hole, boxes, &c.

It requires no particular preparation, being easily split and shaped so as to fit any purpose. If wood is to be bent into hoops or deer horn is to be straightened, it is made pliable by being put into boiling water for some time. Bones of whales and other large animals and the p.e.n.i.s bone of the walrus are used instead of poles. In olden times, when iron was extremely rare and an effective saw could not be procured, they split the bone by drilling many holes, one close to the other, afterwards breaking the pieces asunder.

Small pieces of bone, used for arrows &c., were straightened, after being steamed, with the implement represented in Fig. 474.

The drill (Fig. 475) is the most important implement for working in ivory and bone. It consists of three parts: the bow with its string (niuqtung), the drill (qaivun), and the mouthpiece (qingmiaq). The string of the bow is twisted around the shaft of the drill, the mouthpiece (which is made of wood or of bone) is taken into the mouth, and the rounded end of the drill is placed in its hole. Then the whole implement is put firmly against the place to be perforated and is set in motion by moving the bow. Instead of the latter, a string is sometimes used with a handle at each end. For one man, however, the first device is handier. The string of the second form is usually pulled by one man while the other holds the mouthpiece.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 474. Instrument for straightening bones.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 475. Drill for working in ivory and bone.

(National Museum, Washington. 34114.) ?]

The same instrument is sometimes used for making fire. Instead of the iron, a piece of hard wood (ground willow) is put into the mouthpiece and placed upon a piece of driftwood cut to the shape represented in Fig. 476. The wooden drill turns rapidly in a hole of the driftwood until it begins to glow. A little moss is applied to the glowing wood and gently blown until it begins to burn. Wherever flint and pyrite are to be had these are used for striking fire. Moss or the wool-like hair of _Eryophorum_ serves for tinder.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 476. Driftwood used in kindling fire from Nugumiut. (National Museum, Washington. 10258.) ]

Ivory implements are cut out of the tusks with strong knives and are shaped by chipping pieces from the blocks until they acquire the desired forms. In olden times it must have been an extremely troublesome work to cut them out, the old knives being very poor and ineffective. They are finished with the file, which on this account is an important tool for the natives; it is also used for sharpening knives and harpoons. The women's knives are cut, by means of files, from old saw blades; the seal harpoons, from Scotch whale harpoons. If files are not obtainable, whetstones are used for sharpening the iron and stone implements.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 477. Eskimo graver's tool. (National Museum, Washington. 34105.) ]

Engravings in bone and ivory are made with the implement represented in Fig. 477. An iron point is inserted in a wooden handle; formerly a quartz point was used. The notch which separates the head from the handle serves as a hold for the points of the fingers. The designs are scratched into the ivory with the iron pin.