904 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1895. 



i^o. 5 is about to thrust Ms lauce through the hole into the water 

 beneath. No. has stuck his harpoou into the ice and is erecting- a 

 shade over the hole so as to permit him to see beneath, while No. 7 has 

 thrust his weapon downward through the ice. 



Mr, Dair mentions a practice adopted by the Aleuts when hunting 

 otter, by which the fact of having thrown the spear is intimated to his 

 companions, when they will at once paddle and form a circle around 



^-^ -^^ ^ 1^ ^^ ^^ 



12 3 4 5 6 7 



Fig. 122. 



SEAL FISHING AND SIGNAL. 



the spot so as to attack with spear the animal when it returns to the 

 surface to breathe. The signal is graphically portrayed in the follow- 

 ing illustration, in which several hunters had such exploits, and also 

 in many others, in some of which, however, the signal may also denote 

 the idea to come, a call for assis.tance when the animal is thought to be 

 liable to escape or to be unmanageable. 

 The iishermen found a small school of whales, as shown in tig. 123, 



;;x^ ^^ ^^^ *^^ j^S^-"^^^ ;=a^42> fs^ii^^ 



Fig. 123. 

 SIGNALING FOR ASsI.STANCE ; WHALES. 



and three of them have been harpooned while a fourth is escaping. 

 Help to secure the monsters is required, and all of the occupants of the 

 boats are making the signal for assistance by holding horizontally 

 above the head the boat paddle. This signifies come, and also, under 

 other circumstances, game found. 



Fig. 124 represents a record of a hunt, made for the present writer 

 by Vladimir Naomoff, in 1882. The drawing is in imitation of similar 



K ir X ^ ic <^ f ^ ^ ^ ^ -"^ 



12 345678 9 10 U 12 



Fig. 124. 

 ALASKAN NOTICE OF HUNT. 



ones made by the natives of the southern coast of Alaska, to inform 

 their visitors or friends of their departure for a purpose designated. 

 They are depicted upon pieces of wood, which are jilaced in conspicu- 

 ous places near the doors of the habitations. 



The following is the explanation of the characters : No. 1, the speaker, 

 with the right hand indicating himself and with the left pointing in the 

 direction taken ; No. 2, holding a boat paddle, goi7i() by boat; No. 3, the 

 speaker holding the right hand to the side of the head, to denote sleep, 



'Alaska aud its Resources, iip. 490. 491. 



