134 THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT . [ETH.ANN. 18 



having about its upper end a wrapping of whalebone which secures 

 the middle of another strip of whalebone extending outward about a 

 foot in each direction, each end of which is made into a running noose. 



Figure 1, plate LI, represents a set of snares, from Big lake, used for 

 catching ducks or other wild fowl about the borders of grassy lakes. 

 It consists of a strong spruce root, three or four feet in length, with 

 a rawhide cord fastened to each end, by which it is firmly attached to 

 stakes. Spaced at regular intervals along this root are eight running 

 nooses, also made of spruce root, spliced by one end to the main root, 

 leaving a point projecting outward about two inches, which serves to 

 hold the noose open. The snares are set just above the surface of the 

 water across the small openings in the floating grass and weeds, and 

 as the birds attempt to pass through they are caught. Similar snares 

 of whalebone were obtained along the shore of Norton sound, and 

 thence northward to Kowak river and Kotzebue sound. 



An ordinary sling, consisting of a strip of leather in the middle and 

 two long strings at each end, for casting a stone, is used among the 

 Eskimo from the month of the Yukon to Kotzebue sound for killing 

 birds. A compound sling or bolas is used for catching birds by the 

 people of the coast from Unalaklit to Kotzebue sound, the islands of 

 Bering strait, St Lawrence island, and the adjacent Siberian coast. It 

 is used but little by the people around the northern end of Norton 

 sound, but in the other districts mentioned it is in common use. 

 These implements have from four to eight braided sinew or rawhide 

 cords, varying from 24 to 30 inches in length, united at one end, where 

 they are usually bound together with a tassel of grass or fine wood 

 shavings; at the free end of each cord is a weight of bone, wood, or 

 ivory, usually in the form of an oval ball, but occasionally it is carved 

 into the form of an animal, as in the specimen from Point Hope, illus 

 trated in figure 8, plate LI, which has ivory weights representing five 

 white bears, a bird, and a seal. Another example, from Nulukhtu- 

 logumut, shown in figure 10, plate LI, has four pear-shape ivory balls, 

 with raven totem marks etched upon their surfaces at the lower 

 ends of the rawhide cords; to the united upper ends are attached two 

 white gull feathers to guide the implement in its flight. The specimen 

 represented in figure 14, plate LI, which was obtained at St Law 

 rence island, has four oval wooden balls united by a braided sinew 

 cord; another from Port Clarence, shown in figure 3 of the same plate, 

 has six oval balls of bone attached to sinew cords. 



When in search of game the bolas is worn wound around the 

 hunter s head like a fillet, with the balls resting on the brow. When 

 a flock of ducks, geese, or other wild fowl pass overhead, at an altitude 

 not exceeding 40 or 50 yards, the hunter by a quick motion untwists 

 the sling. Holding the united ends of the cords in his right hand, he 

 seizes the balls with the left and draws the cords so tight that they 

 lie parallel to each other; then, as the birds come within throwing 



