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



Just below these the chin is cut away and the carved, wooden head is 

 attached by sinew cords, so that it may be moved up and down, and 

 is controlled by a sinew cord passing through a hole from the rear of 

 the mask to its attachment on the throat. The flippers, both before 

 and behind, are represented by small, paddle shape wooden attach 

 ments fastened to the body with small strips of whalebone. Upon 

 each side of the eyes and nostrils, which are pierced through the face 

 of the mask, are fastened small, wing-like doors, as if to close and 

 cover the face, but they are tied so as to remain permanently open. 

 On each of these doors is painted in black the image of a white whale, 

 and a black line is drawn through the eyes on the face. A stout 

 splint hoop is attached at the shoulders on either side by wooden 

 splints, and surrounds the entire border of the mask, except in front. 

 The face and the interior of the doors are white, with the exception 

 of the black figures mentioned; also all of the seal s head, except 

 the crown and nape, which, with the back of the figure forming the 

 front of the mask, are painted slate color with white spots. This figure 

 is intended to represent a seal, the concealed face on its back being 

 the inua. 



Figure 1, plate xcvin, is a long, slender mask representing the head, 

 neck, and beak of a sand-hill crane (Grus canadensis). It is 30 inches 

 long, with the head and beak about 24 inches in length, and is rudely 

 carved, having the top of the bird s head excavated for a small lamp, 

 with a hole in front on each side, representing the eyes for the light 

 to shine through. On the beak are a few wooden pegs to indicate 

 teeth, and the slender neck extends down to the breast of the bird 

 where the wood takes a roughly oval form on which is a rudely shaped 

 human face, with the chin narrow and long drawn down. This face is 

 about oi inches broad and slightly and roughly excavated behind. The 

 interior of the bird s mouth and the area around the eyes and ears, the 

 sides of the neck, as well as the space about the eyes, nostrils, and interior 

 of the mouth of the human face at the lower portion are painted red. 

 This mask was said to represent the inua of the crane. The maker was 

 a shaman, who claimed that once, when he was alone upon the tundra, 

 he saw a sand-hill crane standing at a distance looking at him; as he 

 approached, the feathers on the bird s breast parted, revealing the face 

 of the bird s inua, as shown in the carving. 



Figure 2, plate xcvin, from the lower Kuskokwim, is a long, narrow, 

 flattened mask, 11 by 4| inches, representing an extremely elongated 

 human countenance with the face divided across the middle, just above 

 the lower point of the nose, and hinged together with rawhide cord so 

 as to move upon itself. The eyes and the mouth are crescentic with 

 down-turned corners; the nose is long and slender with two rounded 

 nostrils pierced through the wood and having a dumbbell-shape pend 

 ant on the nose ring. On the middle of the lower lip is a peculiarly 

 shaped labret made of a carved wooden flap, indicating, from the style 



