NELSON] HUNTING BAGS AND HELMETS 167 



Figure 33, plate LXIII, from St Michael, is such a bag made from 

 the skins of two wolves heads, bound around the edge with red flan 

 nel and lined with white cotton. A shoulder strap made of white 

 cotton and ornamented with stitching of red worsted is attached to it. 



At St Michael I obtained a long, slender hunting bag (number 38458) 

 made of alternating strips of white and brown deerskin, with a fringe 

 of the same cut in little strips around the lower end. It is bordered 

 above by a trimming of skin from a loon s throat, which is succeeded 

 by ornamental bands of deerskin and a strip of wolverine fur. 



The people of the seacoast between Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers 

 use conical wooden helmets to protect their eyes from the glare of the 

 sun when hunting at sea; these are ornamented with carved ivory 

 images or are painted with various devices. 



At Kushunuk were seen many of these hats which were painted 

 white, on which were various phallic pictures in rod; these pictures 

 had a certain significance connected with the religious beliefs of the 

 people, which I failed to ascertain. The same idea was shown in a 

 phallic picture on a pair of paddles obtained at this village, each of the 

 two having one-half of the picture upon it, so that it was completed 

 by joining them at their edges. 



From the mouth of the Yukon northward, wooden visors are used to 

 shade the eyes; these are somewhat similar in shape to the helmets 

 but they lack the conical top; the forepieces of the visors are often 

 ornamented with ivory carvings and have at the back a plume of 

 feathers from the tails of old squaw ducks. 



Figure 22, plate LXIV, represents one of these conical helmets from 

 Kushunuk. It has a strip of deerhorn lashed around the base at the 

 rear to hold the bent ends in position. On both sides are fastened, by 

 sinew cord passed through holes, wing-like pieces of ivory, carved with 

 open-work pattern and ornamented with groups of concentric circles, 

 with a central hole in each. On the middle of the front are two carved 

 walrus heads of ivory, and on each side of these are two ivory strips 

 representing heads of gulls. The outer surface of this helmet is 

 painted slate color splashed with white. 



Another helmet, from Kaialigamut (figure 20, plate LXIV), is without 

 ivory ornaments on the front. It is held together at the back by a 

 strip of deerhoru pierced with holes, through which pass lashings of 

 cord; the edges, where they are held together in the rear, are fastened 

 together with spruce-root lashings. The outer surface is painted white 

 and decorated with red figures; bordering grooves 011 the top and 

 bottom are also red. 



The visors worn by the people of Xortou sound and the lower Yukon 

 are usually plain, but sometimes are made to represent the head of 

 some animal. They consist of a fillet of wood passing around the back 

 of the head, with the front carried out to form a long, rounded fore- 

 piece. 



Figure 21, plate LXIV, illustrates one of these unornamented visors, 



