ABORIGINAL SKIN-DRESSING. 561 



their teeth, sew them together, ami smear the seams ami stitches with 

 old seal blubber instead of pitch, that the water may not penetrate. 

 But they must take care not to impair the grain, for if they do the cor- 

 roding sea-water will easily eat through the leather. 



"(6) The remnants of this and the other sorts they shave thin, lay 

 them upon the snow or hang them in the air to bleach them white, and 

 if they intend to dye it red chew the leather with some bark of the 

 roots of pine, which they gather up out of the sea, working it in with 

 their teeth. 



(7) They soften the skin of the fowls about the head and then draw 

 it off whole over the body. The processes of tanning, Hall says, are 

 first to scrape the skin by an instrument called Sek-koon (by the 

 Frobisher Bay Inuuits, Teg-se-koon). (Plates LXX, LXXI.) 



This instrument is about iuches long, including the handle, and is 

 made of a peculiar kind of whet or oil stone, or else of musk-ox or rein- 

 deer bone or of sheet-iron. The second step is to dry the skins thor- 

 oughly ; the third, to scrape again with the sek-koon, taking off every 

 bit of the flesh ; the fourth, to wet the flesh side and wrap it up for 

 thirty minutes, and then again scrape with the sek-koon, which last 

 operation is followed by chewing the skin all over, and again scraping 

 and cross scraping with the instrument. These laborious processes 

 Hall describes as resulting " in the breaking of the skin, making the 

 stiff hide soft, finished like the chamois skin." The whole work is often 

 completed within an hour. (Narrative of the Second Expedition made 

 by C. F. Hall, pp. 01,1)2.) 



"In Cumberland Sound," says Kumlien, '-when a seal skin is about 

 to be prepared for drying the blubber is first removed somewhat 

 roughly, the skin then laid on a board, and with the woman's knife the 

 membrane underneath the blubber is separated from the skin. The 

 knife must be very sharp to do this successfully. The operators always 

 push the Unite from them. It takes considerable experience to do the 

 job well. When all the blubber is removed, which will take three or 

 four hours of faithful work, the skin is taken outside, and by means of 

 the feet is roiled and rubbed around in the snow for some time, and by 

 this process they sneered in removing every trace of grease from the 

 hair. When thoroughly washed the skin is put upon the stretchers, if 

 it be winter, to dry; these stretchers are merely four poles, which are 

 lashed together at the corners, like a quilt-frame, the proper distance 

 apart to suit the size of the skin. The skin is secured in place by seal- 

 skin thongs passed through little slits along its edges and made fast to 

 the poles. 



When the skin is properly stretched upon the frame >t is put above 

 the lamps inside the snow-hut to dry. As the sun gets higher and 

 begins to lmve some effect the skins are stretched, flesh side up, on 

 the southern slopes of snow banks, and are secured by means of wooden 

 or bone pegs about a foot in length. 



H. Mis. 224, pt.2 ;;<; 



