This work is the fifteenth of a series of papers intended to illustrate the collections of Natural History and Ethnology belonging to the United States, and constituting the National Museum, of which the Smithsonian Institution has been vested by act of Congress. It is tbeCumberland Straitsof BafBn, its .. original discoverer at the end of the sixteenth century; the Hogarth Sound of CaptainPenny, who rediscovered it in 1839; and the]S"orth-. It is at present unknown whether this is a healthy gulf; it is generally regarded as a gulf, but some Eskimos say that the Kingwah Fjord, one of the arms extending to the N.E. , emptying into a large body of water, unknown to them.
The Cumberland Eskimos make frequent excursions to the eastern coast via these inlets. but seem to have extended their migrations but a short distance northward, and found Cumberland Sound more to their liking. According to the usual story, stone-throwing was one of the most effective and common forms of warfare; this was especially the case when one party could gain a ledge above the other. Their stories on this subject vary, and sometimes with this iTUusual interesting tradition, as well as many . others get the events of quite recent date hopelessly mixed up with it; and it is unusual to find that a whaler of good imagination has supplied and restored lost parts of the narrative to their entire satisfaction; but these restorations are chiefly ... remarkable for their complete disregard of truth-to-possibility.
They were able to lift large stones. 34;We were afraid of them;'we fought with them and killed them. The Tumilies) came in the first tape from Greenland.]. The Cumberland Eskimo of to-day, with his breech-loading rifle, steel knives, cotton jacket, and all the various ornaments he manages to get out of the ships, is worse clothed, livelier, and eats less than his ancestors, who had never seen or heard of any man . The current scarcity of women relative to men makes polygamy a luxury that only the wealthy can indulge in.
As soon as the ice has fairly left the strait, the Eskimo hunter leaves the winter camp, with his family and such portions of his household goods as he requires, and takes a trip inland or up some of the great fjords for reindeer.
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First the younger people pose, and then the younger people engage in various games, the younger people first pose, and then the younger people engage in various games, while the older people gather around some elderly brood, who excitedly tells of the hunts of her girlhood days , and copiously intermingling stray passages of the old sagas and legends with which she abounds. When a deer is killed at some distance from the camp, the meat is caught, with the intention of returning to it in winter; but with what the wolves and jackals devour and what the Eskimo can never find again, very little is brought back. They have an interesting custom or superstition, namely, killing the evil spirit of the deer; sometime in the winter or early spring, in any case before they can go hunting for deer, they come together and get rid of this imaginary evil .. or medicine-man, is the main performer.
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ETHNOLOGY. 21 quantity of blood ; this makes a thick and rather greasy soup that must
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ETHNOLOGY. 23
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25 made of net ski, -^itlitLe Lair on, and side hair-vrorn made of net ski, -^itlitLe Lair on, and side hair. Their toes (called tikil, also meaning first toe) are made of the skin of the Phoca barhata; in form they are a plain oblong piece, large enough to cover the point of the finger.. around the outer edge for half a length; this forms a series of loops under which the finger is passed and thus held in place. Very few of the Cumberland Eskimos now use anything but steel needles, orboneons made after the same pattern.
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ETHNOLOGY, 27
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ETHNOLOGY. 29
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ETHNOLOGY. 31
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Almost always a mischievous-looking head, covered with a thick mat, or almost always a mischievous-looking head, covered with a thick mat of tangled black hair, liberally powdered with reindeer hair of various lengths and colors, sticking out from among the pile of skins. Sometimes meat is brought into the huts that are already spoiled, even though the temperature may be 50 degrees below zero. Over this the covering of the skin is spread and fastened to the rock by means of stones laid on the edge of love.
The entire back of this tent is made of sea skin, with hair on the back of a generally large male Pagophilusgreenlandicus. The advanced part is made of what is called mamma, which is prepared from the skins of the net in the following manner: after the fat has been removed in the usual way.
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Today the sealing spear is softened by an ancient whaling lance with a wooden shaft and an iron harpoon head (see sketches). They are extremely expert in the use of this Mcapon, and they have such wonderful patience that they will stand by a seal that is satluJi all day, waiting the animal's turn. The opposite end of the spear, from which the hari^oon is attached, is also their master's tool for building fox-traps of ice, cutting down humps to draw their sledges over the shore-ice, &c.
When traveling they very often come to places where the road tide has worn the ice very thin, and by means of this spear they feel their way carefully.
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The bow is made of deer horns; these are separate, singing only one of the halves in the arch construction. On the back of the ink three or more threads, made like the strings of a bow; these are fixed at both ends of the bow, and also secure at the lower back. All three rings are securely attached to a piece of whale jawbone, of varying lengths, sometimes alone.
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The seal will move its head and front part of its body jerkily, moving closer and closer to its work; The Eskimo watches every movement of the seal and knows .. the right moment to advance a step or two and then stop. Operators always push the knife out of themselves; considerable experience is required to do the job well.. removal, which will take three or four hours of faithful work, the skin . they take them outside and roll them with their feet for some time and rub them in the snow, and by this process they manage to remove all traces of grease from their hair. After the skin has been thoroughly washed, it is placed on a stretcher, if it is winter, to dry; these stretchers ar& . only four poles, tied together at the corners as a frame for a quilted quilt, at the proper distance to suit the size of the skin.. are held in place by straps of seal leather passed through small slits along the*. its edges and attached to the poles.
If . the sun rising and beginning to have some effect, the skins are stretched, flesh side up, on the southern slopes of snowdrifts, and are secured by means of wooden or bone legs about a foot long. The hides are not allowed to rest on the ground, but are raised with a pair of winches so that the air can circulate underneath.
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ETHNOLOGY. 41
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ETHNOLOGY. 43
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ETHNOLOGY. 45'
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