ABORIGINAL SKIN-DRESSING 563 



skin is different on those portions of the body, and would euro unevenly. 

 When finished it is almost as stiff and dry as a board. This, skin is used 

 mainly for the soles of boots; the pattern is ear from the hide and then 

 chewed till it becomes sufficiently soft to sew. This last operation is 

 also mainly performed by the old squaws. When they are too old to 

 sew they become oojook chewersas the last resort, and when their teeth 

 fail them they are better off in the grave." (Ludwig Kumlien. Bull. 

 National Museum, No. 15.) 



Amongst the ( Sentral Eskimo, says Dr. Fran/. Boas, the latest author- 

 ity, the skin of the seal [Phoca, foetida) is dressed in different ways 

 according to the purpose for which it is intended. In skinning the 

 animal a longitudinal cut is made across the belly with a common luitch- 

 er's knife or one of ancient pattern (An. Rep. Bur. Ethnol VI., Fig. 

 160). The skin, with the blubber, is cut from the flesh with the same 

 knife. The flippers are cur off at the points, and thus the whole skin is 

 drawn off in a single piece. The woman's knife, ulo is used to clean and 

 prepare theskins [id. Fig. 461), in which operation the women spread 

 the skin over a piece of whalebone (Asimautang), a small board, or 

 flat stone, and sit down before it, resting on their knees, the feet bent 

 under the thighs. They hold the skin by the nearest edge, and push- 

 ing the ulo forward, remove the blubber and deposit it in a small tub, 

 which stands near the board. As they proceed to the opposite end of 

 the skin the finished part is rolled up and held in the left hand. 



If the skin is to be used with the hair on it. the tough membrane 

 [mami) which covers the inner side is removed in the same way as the 

 blubber, and after it has been carefully patched and the holes have 

 been cut all round the edge, it is stretched over a gravelly place or on " 

 snow by means of long pegs (paukton), which holdita few inches above 

 the ground, thus allowing the air to circulate underneath it. The skin 

 itself is washed and rubbed with gravel, snow, or ice, and every hole 

 made by the bullet or by the spear or in preparing it is sewed up. It 

 very seldom happens that the women in preparing it damage the skin 

 or even the thin mammae, it is particularly difficult to split the skin 

 near a hole. First, they finish the work all around it and then carefully 

 sever the membrane at its edge. The skin is dried in the same way as 

 tin- membrane. In the early part of spring, though it may still be very 

 cold, a few choice young seal skins are dried on snow walls which fare 

 i he south. In order thoroughly to dry a seal skin, one tine warm spring 

 day is needed. If the Eskimos are greatly in need of skins they dry 

 them in winter over the lamps. A frame is made of four poles, lashed 

 together, according to the size of the skin. A thong passes through the 

 slits along its edge and around the frame, keeping the skin well stretched. 

 Thus it is placed over the lamps or near the root' of the hut. However, 

 it is disagreeable work to dry the skins inside the huts, and as they are 

 much inferior to those which are dried on the ground, the Eskimos 

 avoid it if they can. When so prepared the seal skins are only tit for 



