GRAPHIC ART OF THE ESKIMOS. 787 



art work, in the collections of the National Museum at Washington, Dis- 

 trict of Columbia, and the Alaska Commercial Company in San Fran- 

 cisco, California, it appears that the more modern specimens of ivory 

 are engraved in a manner indicating the use of steel-pointed instru- 

 ments, such as are sliown in plate 19. The lines or incisions are fre- 

 (luently very pronounced and represent deep regular channels in wliich 

 the two sides converge to a sharp cut beneath or at the bottom, resem- 

 bling a V-shaped groove of elegant uniformity. In the older specimens 

 of ivory carving, snch as are very much surface worn by frequent and 

 long continued handling, or have been in the possession of certain 

 individuals and families for a long time, the creases have become less 

 deep, and where they are sheltered by lateral ridges they still indicate 

 an origin of a more primitive kind, being made, perhaps, by less expe- 

 rienced artists or with ruder instruments. The numerous hair-line 

 scratches and frequent apparently accidental slips of the point would 

 indicate the use of a point less acute than the modern steel gravers 

 made by the natives at this day, and which are herewith illustrated. 



In some of the later engravings the grooves are regular, deep, and 

 pronounced, the cut being sometimes vertical, so as to show the lateral 

 edges at right angles to the horizontal base of the groove, indicating a 

 strong hand pressure of a square cutting edge. The greater number of 

 lines are made, evidently, by using an angle of the graver, the result 

 being similar to that resulting from the use of a variety of the three- 

 sided or triangular graver used in wood engraving. 



An examination of the ends of short lines, especially those employed 

 in simple ornamentation, illustrates at once that most of them are made 

 by cutting from the outside toward the main object or body of the 

 design. In this manner the very short lines resemble arrow-headed 

 ornaments or projections, or minute triangles. This is particularly 

 apparent in some of the specimens referred to in connection with 

 conventionalizing and to the art of the Polynesians. 



Drills and simple borers appear to have been made by securing to 

 wooden handles rather thin but elongated pieces of chalcedony, or similar 

 siliceous minerals. Slight depressions or pits apparently made by such 

 tools are frequent, and it is probable that before the introduction of 

 metals nearly all perforations in bone, wood, and probably in ivory, 

 were thus made. In larger cavities in bone and ivory, such as would 

 serve for steadying the rear or upper end of a fire-drill during rotation 

 of the latter, the origin thus attributed is often very clear, the rounded 

 cavity, when not yet entirely smoothed off by use, retaining the marks 

 of workmanship made by a crude tool or instrument. 



That circles were made by turning the specimen to be engraved and 

 holding firmly the stone-pointed graver and pushing it toward the 

 specimen has been affirmed by one correspondent; but such instances 

 were no doubt rare, and it is believed that no example of a circle, 

 nucleated or otherwise, made in this oif hand manner will be found in 

 the extensive collection of the National Museum. 



