46 BULLETIX 141, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



cm.) diameter.) Figure 15 is a pottery saucer lamp with stem and 

 dish foot. (Cat. No. 167556; Singapore; A. H. Webb; 3.1 inches 

 (8 cm.) high, 4.7 inches (12 cm.) diameter.) 



Eskimo lamps furnish examples of great simplicity and of extreme 

 interest as they are the only aboriginal lamps in the Western 

 Hemisphere. They have been monograplied by the writer.^ It is 

 seen that there are two distinct types of lamps in the Eskimo area : 

 The simple saucer lamp of Asiatic origin, and the wick lip or ridge 

 lamp, apparently indigenous to America. Plate 40, Figure 6, is a 

 pottery lamp with ridges around the interior, from the Yukon delta, 

 Alaska. (E. W. Nelson, 5.1 inches (13 cm.) diameter.) Plate 41a, 

 Figure 4, is a small example of the long wick edge lamp of soapstone. 

 The wick is powdered moss laid along the edge and in contact with the 

 oil. (Cat. No. 64223, Hotham Inlet, Alaska, E. W. Nelson, 6.7 

 inches (17 cm.) long, 5.1 inches (13 cm.) Avide.) The pottery lamp 

 of St. Lawrence Island has a ridge in the bottom on which the moss 

 wick is laid. The lamp rest and drip catcher also admits of tip- 

 pmg the lamp. (PI. 4:1a, fig. 5, Cat. No. 316720, collected by 

 Sheldon Jackson, 5.7 inches (14.5 cm.) long, 4.7 inches (12 cm.) 

 wide, 3.8 inches (9.5 cm.) high.) In southern Alaska the lamps 

 are of hard stone, sometimes sadiron shape and sometimes circular. 

 These appear to be modifications of the Asiatic dish lamp. Plate 

 4:1a, Figm-e 6, is the sadiron shape. These lamps are often very 

 large and remarkable examples of stone working. (Cat. No. 316719, 

 Unalaska, Alaska, Sheldon Jackson, 5.4 inches (14 cm.) long, 4 

 inches (10 cm.) wide.) Plate 41a, Figure 8, is the oval form. 

 (Cat. No. 316716, Aleuts, southern Alaska, Sheldon Jackson, 5.5 

 inches (14 cm.) by 4.3 inches (11 cm.) diameter.) Plate 41a, Fig- 

 ure 7, is a concave beach stone which has been used as a lamp. 

 It is from an ancient Aleutian house ruin. Dr. W. H. Dall found 

 similar stones showing use as a lamp. This is an extemporaneous 

 lamp suggesting great primitiveness, as shown in examples described 

 later. (Cat. No. 14892, Uklatka Spit, Alaska, Capt. J. A. Sladen, 

 8 inches (20.6 cm.) long.) 



Many extemporaneous or makeshift lamps have been observed. 

 Sometimes these lamps seem worthy of standing at the beginning 

 of the developmental series, as observed in the beach stone lamps 

 of the Aleuts. Often these lamps are associated with occupations, 

 as Plate 41a, Figure 1, which is a brick with a hole dug in the 

 surface for the reservoir and used some years ago by bakers. (Cat. 

 No. 152532, Oxford, England, Henry Balfour, 8.8 inches (22.5 cm.) 

 by 4.1 inches (10.5 cm.) by 3 inches (7.5 cm.).) Another, used by 



6 The Lamp of tbe Eskimo. Report of U. S. National Museum, 1896, pp. 1025-1056. 



