NELSON] MASKS 401 



over each nostril are black. The remainder of the face is white; the 

 hands are red, as are also the two seal-heads; the iish-heads are greeu. 

 This mask represents the face of a tungliak. 



A mask bearing original number 1445, from the country south of the 

 Yukon mouth, represents a human figure with outstretched arms and 

 legs, having a human face in relief on the front of the body. The head, 

 arms, and legs of this figure are attached to the central part of the 

 mask with wooden pius. A hoop fastened to the inside of the arms near 

 the elbows and to the legs at the knees holds the limbs in their out 

 stretched position. On each side of the face on the front of the body 

 is a thumbless hand cut from a flattened piece of wood. These are 

 attached to the mask with flexible pegs of wood. This mask, from the 

 lower part of the body to the top of head, is 14 inches high and nearly 

 7 inches broad on the body. Its posterior surface is roughly concave, 

 with a projecting ledge of wood near the lower border of excava 

 tion, to enable the wearer to seize it with his teeth for the purpose of 

 holding the mask more firmly in position. Around the body of the 

 mask are inserted downy, white swan s feathers; the outstretched 

 hands of the figure are thumbless, as are the hands on nearly all the 

 masks collected in that region. The holes in the palms, which are 

 usually made large and conspicuous, are indicated in this case by small, 

 round punctures about one-tenth of an inch in diameter. The main 

 color of the front of the mask, including the arms, legs, and the hoop, 

 is white. The ears on the head of the figure are represented by small, 

 flat wooden pegs painted red; the mouth is also red. The eyebrows, 

 excavations for the eyes, mustache, and beard are indicated in black 

 paint, the eyebrows and mustache being represented by dots. The 

 arms, between the shoulders and elbows, are surrounded by a black 

 band with a white spot in the middle, and the forearms and the hands 

 to the fingers are red; the ends of the fingers are not painted. 



The second pair of hands, mentioned as -being on either side of the 

 face in front of the body, are painted like the arms. There is a black 

 baud around the thigh with a white spot in the center, and the lower 

 legs and the feet are red, with a white spot on the inside of the calf, 

 which corresponds to a similar spot on the inside of each wrist. The 

 border around the face carved on the front of the body is red, with white 

 dots at regular intervals about the circle. The face itself is white, with 

 eyebrows, snow-goggles, nostrils, a line over each nostril, mustache, 

 and beard represented in black ; the lips are painted red. The eyes and 

 the mouth are pierced through. The exact significance of this mask 

 was not learned, but the face on the front of the body undoubtedly 

 represents the supposed features of the inua of the being represented 

 by the main figure. 



A mask from the lower Kuskokwim (number 64234), 10 by Gi inches, 

 is oval and deeply excavated, with a convex front imitating a hair seal 

 pierced by four almond-shape openings representing eyes and nostrils. 

 18 ETH 26 



