564 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1889. 



covering tents, making bags, etc. ; they are too hard to be used for 

 clothing, for which purpose the skin of yearlings is almost exclusively 

 employed. 



The young seals having shed for the first time have a very handsome 

 coat, the hair being of a fine texture and much longer than in older ani- 

 mals. From the middle of May until late in summer their skins are 

 most suitable for the manufacture of summer clothing, but it is neces- 

 sary to protect the carcass of the killed animals from the burning rays 

 of the sun as soon as possible, or the skin will be quickly spoiled. 



After being dried tbey are cleaned with a sharp scraper (teserqun) 

 (Boas, Figs. 465, 466). The skin is then soaked in salt water and washed 

 again. As soon as it is dry it is softened with a straight scraper 

 (seligoung) (Boas, An. Rep. Bur. Ethnol., vi, Fig. 468). 



Skins of Phoca fcetida, Cystophora cristata, and Phoca groenlandica are 

 prepared in the same way. 



Those that are intended for kayak covers, boots, mittens, quivers, etc., 

 are prepared in a different way. They are either put into hot water or 

 laid in a brook for a few days until the hair begins to loosen. Then 

 both sides are cleaned and worked with the ulo, in order to clean and 

 shave them. When the hair has been removed they are dried and made 

 pliable in the same way as has been described. If it is intended to make 

 the skin as soft as possible, it is allowed to become putrid before it is 

 cleaned. Then the hair and blubber are removed, and afterwards it is 

 left to hang in the sun a few days until it acquires a light color. 



The large ground seal Erignathus barbatus is skinned in a different 

 manner. Its skin is very thick, even thicker than sole-leather, and is 

 extremely durable, and suitable for all sorts of lines, particularly traces, 

 lashing and harpoon lines, and for soles, drinking cups, and boat covers. 

 The skin of the back and of the breast dries unequally, and therefore a 

 piece covering the throat and breast is taken out and dried separately. 

 If it is to be used for lines, it is cut by making girdles about 6 inches in 

 width around the body. The hair and blubber are removed from these 

 cylindrical rings, from which lines are made by cutting spirally, a 

 string 70 or 80 feet long being 1 thus obtained. 



This line is stretched as taut as possible between two rocks, and 

 while drying it undergoes an enormous tension. Before it is taken 

 from the rocks the edges are rounded and cleaned with a knife. 



Walrus hide is always cut up before being prepared. As soon as the 

 walrus is killed it is cut into as many parts as there are partners in the 

 hunt, every part being rolled up in a piece of skin and carried home in 

 it. Sometimes the skin is used for making boats, but generally it is 

 cut into lines. Both kinds of hide, that of the walrus and that of the 

 ground seal, are as stiff as a board when dried and require much work 

 before being fit for use. They are chewed by the natives until they 

 become thin and pliable. The whole skin must be chewed in this way 

 before it can be used for soles and boat covers. A fterwards it is scraped 



