CAVE RELICS OF THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS. 25 



gi-ass, (17463,) with brown puffin-feathers woven into the centre of the bottom. 

 It contained two chipped sea-lion teeth, many loose shreds of sinew, parchment, 

 birch bark, some old twisted sinew threads and loose feathers ; two rough bits of 

 stick tied to the ends of a sinew braid about a foot long ; a clipping of gut-shirt 

 stuflF, with a red stripe in it ; a neat sinew thread, attached at one end to a little 

 piece of hair-seal skin with the hair on, cut into two tails, and, at the other, to a 

 narrow strip of embroidery (17488) about three and one-eighth inches long and 

 a quarter of an inch wide, with one or two small Leiicosticte feathers inserted 

 into the edge. In this quarter of an inch are ten longitudinal rows of stitches. 

 The white stitches are made with deer hair, of the white winter coat. The 

 stripes are — red parchment, with distant white stitches in the form of triano-les • 

 then three rows, the middle largest, of white stitches on a yellowish ground ; 

 lastly, the middle stripe is black, with white triangles stitched in on each side, 

 alternating so as to give the black ground the appearance of a zigzag line. The 

 string is about a foot long, and was probably intended as a fastener for some 

 choice little work-bag. On the strings of such bags the Eskimo invariably have 

 a pendant of some kind, at the very least at one end. The specimen is a lasting 

 testimony to the taste and skill of the unknown workwoman. 



14. A fillet, (17465,) made of black human hair, woven at one edge with 

 sinew thread. I have seen similar fillets at Nunivak and on Norton Sound. 

 They are worn with the selvage edge turned downward, and are usually bound 

 around the head. The attraction consists in the gentle waving of the hair during 

 the motions of the dance. 



15. A very rough bone knife (17254) and equally primitive handle, another 

 still less finished, but without any handle, and a jiiece of roughly hewn bone, 

 apparently intended to be made into an awl. 



16. Four pieces of pumice for dressing skins. (17266.) 



17. A dice-box-shaped piece of fine-grained hard wood, (17250,) a^jparently 

 Alaska cedar. This is used for cutting the hair to an even length, on strips of 

 skin used for trimming. The strip is wound spirally around the nearly cylind- 

 rical bit of wood, fastened, and then, with a sharp knife (stone or iron,) the hair 

 is evenly trimmed. A flat board, on which the same might be done, and with 

 the same amount of available surface, would be inconveniently large and 

 awkward to carry about. The dimensions of this substitute are five inches long 

 by one and a half in diameter. 



18. A gut bag, (17467,) about fourteen by twelve inches, ornamented ^^\i\\ 

 stripes of red parchment and a border of hair-seal skin with deer-foot hairs inserted 

 into it. This is precisely similar to work bags now in use. It only contained 

 a strip of trimming, as bright as the day it was made. This was an inch and 

 three quarters long, composed of red and white parchment and a purple duck 

 scalp. 



5—318 



