406 THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT LETH.ANN. 18 



area surrounding the eye is bordered by a narrow black line. The face 

 on the back of the bird represents its inua. 



Figure 1, plate c, from lower Kuskokwim river, is 114 inches long by 

 5 inches wide, and represents a human figure with outspread arms and 

 legs. The head, arms, and legs are set in by squared pegs at their 

 inner portion, which are inserted into holes in the body of the mask. 

 The front of the body of this mask has a grotesque, semihuinan face 

 in low relief, shut in by little doors which, hinged upon either side, 

 are made to open outward, and are controlled by sinew cords. This 

 figure is similar iu general character, except the doors, to a mask 

 described from the lower Yukon (number 1445). The inside of the head 

 is deeply excavated and the back of the body is shallowly concave. 

 Along the inside of the hands and arms, as well as of the legs to the 

 feet, extend grooves painted red, bordered with. Jblack r and set with 

 pegs to represent teeth. This indicates that the being represented was 

 supposed to be provided with mouths all along these portions of its fig 

 ure. The head has two round eyes and a crescentic mouth with points 

 upturned, but no features in relief. The face on the front of the body 

 has the eyeholes, broadly spaced nostrils, and flattened oval, nearly 

 horizontal mouth pierced through the mask; the mouth is provided 

 with squared, peg-like projections to indicate teeth. The entire mask, 

 when the doors are closed in front, with the exception of the mouth 

 area along the arms and legs, is white. 



The inner surfaces of the doors, as well as the concealed face, are 

 white with the exception of the outlined spectacle-like figure covering 

 the eyes, a line indicating the mustache, and the figures of two rein 

 deer upon the inner side of one of the doors and the figures of two 

 seals upon the inner side of the other door, which are black. A nar 

 row strip of deerskin with upstanding hair surrounds the head. Upon 

 each shoulder, as well as along the sides, are inserted white feathers. 

 The exact meaning of this figure is not known, but the doors conceal 

 ing the face on the front of the body indicate that the concealed features 

 are supposed to represent the inner countenance or- inua of the being. 

 Other masks of this character were seen in the region between Kusko 

 kwim and Yukon rivers, as well as on the lower Kuskokwim, and in one 

 or more instances I saw masks having an outer or movable portion 

 representing the muzzle of some animal which could be removed at a 

 certain time iu the festival by a single motion of the hand. These 

 were used. to represent the metamorphosis from the ordinary form of 

 the being indicated to that of its inua. 



Figure .3,. plate c,from Pastolik, at the northern border of the Yukon 

 mouth, is. a rather flat, pear-shape mask, 12J inches long by 5 inches 

 broad. It is made with a grotesque, semihuinan face on the rounded 

 larger end and tapers back to an obtuse point at the top. On the left side 

 of the face are two rudely carved representations of human legs fastened 

 to the mask by quills. One of these is inserted near the corner of the 



