GRAPHIC ART OF THE ESKIMOS. 775 



The etching was done with sharp edges of fragments of fliut. Sometimes these 

 stone fragments were skillfully fastened into a piece of wood and used as gravers or 

 even as lancets. In later years tiles and saws were nsed to cut the ivory into the 

 reiiuired shape, and pieces of steel were used to make the holes. Often a three- 

 cornered tile was the instrument used to make the holes. 



The drill bow or other implement or utensil was not jiroduced in a day or even in a 

 mouth, as these articles were usually created for personal use. I have known of 

 such articles being taken along while on a protracted hunting expedition and there 

 worked upon to while away the oftentimes tedious hours of watching game. Again 

 I have known Avhen a native hadre(iuesteda friend to etch some design, and in their 

 festivals, commemorating their dead, these articles were often presented and highly 

 cherished as gifts. Other articles of ivory often passed as a legacy from a relative 

 to another, and highly valued by the owner. 



With respect to the walrus ivory and autler, both of which are 

 employed by the engraver for the portrayal of various figures, Mr. 

 Turner writes : ^ 



You will observe many of the. larger objects of ivory and antler have outer or 

 engraved portions of herder substance than the inner or core portion. You will per- 

 ceive that in bent or curved aft'airs the outer i)art is always the denser portion of 

 the material. This or these substances warp or curve because of their unequal 

 density of parts. The native saw that heat would uushape a straight piece of ivory 

 or antler, and, taking advantage of what the sun did, he laid aside the piece where 

 it would become moist, and then placed it before the tire, core next to the tire, and 

 warping was the result. 



In the winter the heat of the sun was not sufficient to produce harm, but when the 

 warm rays l)egan to heat objects, the native was careful to put his ivory or bone 

 implements of the chase in the shade of a house or on the side of his cache, or within 

 a place where heat could not alfect it. 



I never saw them dip any such object in liot^water or try to bend it by force. 



The absence of graphic art among the Eskimo of Greenland, Labra- 

 dor, and the region between Hudson Bay and the Mackenzie Ifiver, 

 can not entirely be attributed to the lack of horn, bone, and walrus 

 ivory, as one or more of these materials appear al)undant in certain 

 localities. By graphic art as here named is not intended the ordinary 

 ornamentation by means of lines, dots, etc., nor the sketches on paper 

 referred to by Doctor Rink, but the etchings upon the severnl materials 

 by means of gravers, to portray graphically records of hunting expe- 

 ditions, shamanistic ceremonies, and other subjects of which numerous 

 examples are here given passim. The great supply of ivory in Alaska 

 comes from near Port Muller, in Bristol Bay, and the more northern 

 coast and islands. Mr. Dall, who is autliority for this statement, adds, ' 

 furthermore, "that the amount of walrus ivory taken annually will 

 average 1()0,0()0 pounds."^ 



Some of the utensils in the iSTational Museum are made of fossil ivory; 

 and of this to Mr. Dall remarks, "that it is not uncommon in many 

 parts of the valleys of the Yukon and Kuskoquim. It is usually found 

 on the surface, not buried as in Siberia, and all that I have seen has 

 been so much injured by the weather that it was of little commercial 



1 Letter dated March 18, 1896. 



2 "Alaska and its Resources." Boston, 1870, p. 504. 



