868 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1895. 



Tlie elongated figure at Ko. 25 is a fish net stretched out for drying. 

 Other characters appear to have been uiade farther toward the right, 

 but from use of the rod the surface has been worn so smooth as to 

 obliterate them. 



mAmiA- i^'^i^ 1 X 



3 4 5 G 



Fig. 80. 



ESKIMO ATHLETIC Sl'ORTS. 



The etchings reproduced in plate G7, fig. -A, were copied from an ivory 

 rod in the collection of the Alaska Commercial Comi:)any, and were 

 interpreted by Vladimir 2!saomoff, a Kadiak half-caste referred to else- 

 where. The left-hand figure represents a long rack from which a native 

 has suspended reindeer hides, the person being x)ortrayed at the right 

 as in the act of descending from a short ladder. The dome-shaped 

 figure is a habitation, before the door of which is 



\*^ a square figure — perhaps a kettle — from which 



|r>s^ _£^ smoke is arising. A native is next drawn in the 

 u >^T\X ^ actofsliooting a reindeer, the arrows being shown 



^°' ^^' as if sticking in its back. The continuous body- 



witli eleven pairs of horns indicates that number 

 of animals. To the right are several reindeer down upon the ground, 

 two having been shot Avith arrows, the native being again shown in the 

 act of shooting toward a herd of ten reindeer, Avounding one which after- 

 wards attacked him, and which he caught by the horns, as shown at the 

 extreme right end of the record. 



The figure of the habitation Xo. 1, shown in accompanying illustra- 

 tion fig. 80, has above it at the left a character resembling a cedar tree, 

 but which denotes smoke. This resembles also the char- 

 acter to denote spray or water as spouted by whales, illus- 

 trations of which are found elsewhere. 



The individual seated over the entrance to the habita- 

 tion, ]Sro. 2, is watching the amusements going on a short ^ig- 82. 

 distance before him. Nos, 3 and 4 have made use of the native makin« 

 fishrack poles for horizontal bars, and while Xo. 3 is astride 

 of his and gesturing with his conversation with No. 2, No. 4 is making 

 a turn. 



The person indicated in No, 5 is preparing to run, the two remaining 

 figures in Nos, and 7 acting, perhaps, as coachers. 



Fig, 81, taken from the engravings on the ivory pipestem represented 

 in plate 61, shows a native in the act of standing upon his head 

 or taking a somersault. The representation is unique, and nothing 

 approaching this kind of athletic sport has been elsewhere found upon 

 the specimens in the collection. 



The seated figure in fig. 82 is holding with one hand a piece of wood 



