288 



THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT 



[ETH. ANN. 18 



backs and shoulders with a wooden dipper, apparently experiencing- the 

 greatest pleasure from the operation. 



Throughout the region visited the men, while taking their sweat 

 baths, are accustomed to use a cap made of the skin of some waterfowl, 

 usually the red- or black-throat loon. The skin is cut open along the 

 belly and removed entire, minus the neck, wings and legs; it is then 

 dried and softened so as to be pliable and is fastened together at the 

 neck in suoh a way that it can be worn on the head. Owing to the 

 intense heat generated in the fire pit, the bathers, who are always 

 males, are obliged to use respirators to protect their lungs. These are 

 made of fine shavings of willow or spruce bound into the form of an 

 oblong pad formed to cover the mouth, the chin, and a portion of the 

 cheeks. These pads are convex externally and concave within; cross 

 ing the concave side is a small wooden rod, either round or square, so 



that the wearer can 

 grasp it in his teeth 

 and thus hold the 

 respirator in posi 

 tion. 



Some of the res 

 pirators are made of 

 shavings bound to 

 gether at each end 

 by a few strands of 

 the same material 

 and furnished with 

 a wooden holder. 

 Others are more 

 elaborately made, as 

 in the example from 

 Shaktolik shown in figure 90. This is a little over 5 inches in length 

 and 4 inches broad, and is made of fine wood shavings; it is smoothly 

 oval in outline, with the border rounded by means of a rope-like band 

 of shavings tightly wound with a cord made of the same material. 

 Inclosed within this oval ring is a soft mass of shavings held in posi 

 tion by a loosely twisted cord made of the same. On the inner side 

 the shavings are packed loosely and held in position by the rod or 

 mouthpiece which crosses the pad horizontally. 



DWELLING HOUSES 



The dwelling houses are the domain of the women. From one to 

 three families may occupy the platforms in the single room which the 

 house contains, but each is quite separate and independent in all of its 

 domestic arrangements. Each woman who is the head of a family has 

 an oil lamp beside her sleeping bench where she sews or carries on her 

 household work. Her own cooking utensils and wooden dishes for food, 



FIG. 96 Kespirator, front view (J). 



