GRAPHIC ART OF THE ESKIMOS. 913 



found in Algonkian pictograpLs, and does not keep in general har- 

 mony with Alaskan art, although the whales, which are true, typical, 

 Alaskan examples, seems at once to repel the suspicion of intrusive 

 characters, or such as are non-Innuit. 



;?=^='^=W=fr^^^^ 



Fig. 136. 

 MYTHIC SERPENTS. 



The four perforations in the piece are for attaching- it to the gunwale 

 of the umiak. 



The illustrations given, a, h, and c, of fig. 13G, represent mythic 

 serpents, and are described in some of the folk tales, c very much 

 resembles the *' water monster" of the Ojibwa, 

 though it is scarcely possible that the cult of 

 the latter could have been conveyed, even in 

 the slightest degree, to the Eskimo. Other 

 intervening tribes, notably so those of the 

 Athabascas family, have serpent myths, and rig. 137. 



from this people the idea may have been con- '«^thic animal devouring na- 

 veyed to the lunuit, especially as the latter 



are in frequent communication with the Kenai Indians, the northwest- 

 ernmost tribe of the above-mentioned famiy. 



It has been suggested, too, that the creatures may have been copied 

 from or suggested by illustrations in newspapers or other literature. 



In fig. 137 is shown a mythic creature taking up a man and preparing 



to devour him. The belief in water monsters survives among the 



natives of the southern coast, opposite the island of Kadiak, a creature 



resembling somewhat a reptilian form in imitation of 



an alligator, of which illustrations are also given else- 



^^Cj) "'"■" 



The outlines in fig. 138 are not sufficiently specific to 



Fig. 138. indicate the kind of creature intended, but the indica- 



MYTHic animal. .j-jqj^ ^^ ^^^ hcart, together with the voice line, or life 



line, extending therefrom to the open mouth, is very much like some of 



the figures found among the Zuni and the Ojibwa. 



This peculiar line denotes the animal to be of a mythic or, perhaps, 

 sacred character, and has reference to ceremonials known only to the 

 shamans or members of certain cult societies. 

 NAT Mus 05 as 



