NELSON] MASKS 409 



are large, irregularly rounded, and pierced through. On each side of 

 the chin are represented two huge labrets, and a roughly fashioned 

 nose and high cheekbones are also indicated. In the rear the mask is 

 slightly excavated, with a ledge to enable the wearer to grasp it with 

 his teeth. 



Figure 4, plate en, from the, lower Kus.kok wim, measures 6f by 7 inches. 

 It is a quadrangular mask, with rounded corners, and is made of a thin, 

 rather flattened piece of wood. It has a broad mouth extending clear 

 across, with the lower jaw carved in a separate piece and hinged near 

 the ends with sinew, so that it can be moved up and down. At the cor 

 ners of the lower jaw are represented, by squared wooden appendages 

 with small, wooden strips, labret pendants of peculiar style, attached to 

 the chin with whalebone. The mouth above and below is bordered with 

 wooden pegs to represent teeth. Two suboval nostrils, near the middle 

 of the face, and eyes of the same size and shape are pierced through 

 the mask. The pupils are represented by small wooden pegs, carved 

 narrow at the ends and rounded in the middle, set in so that their 

 broad, rounded portion is in the middle of the eye opening. Just above 

 the eye, on each side, and set in by a squared wooden peg, is a some 

 what pointed, flattened, or paddle-shape piece of wood representing an 

 ear. Fastened to each side of the face by splints, just above the cor 

 ners of the mouth, are the ends of two hoops which extend out and 

 around the upper side of the countenance and are held in position 

 by the wrappings of splint; to the outer of these hoops are attached 

 three long feathers with downy plumes at their tips. Fastened imme 

 diately about the face of the mask, and held in position by the split 

 ends of pegs set around the border, is a strip of deerskin with long, 

 upstanding hairs, forming a halo-like fringe. This mask represents 

 the inua of a Canada lynx. The ear tips are painted black behind, and 

 are white near their bases to represent the markings on the ears of 

 the lynx. The entire face is white, with rounded, bluish spots and a 

 series of brownish blotches along the borders of the mouth, above and 

 below, and a black line is drawn from eye to eye. 



Figure 1, plate en, shows a mask, from south of the Yukon mouth, 

 measuring 6 inches high by 4J wide. It is thin and rather flat, being 

 only slightly excavated behind, square on top and along the sides, 

 becoming rounded on the lower portion. It represents semihuman 

 features with bird-like mandibles projecting from above and below the 

 mouth, which is broad with the corners upturned, and extends on each 

 side to the extreme borders of the mask. The center of the mouth is 

 pierced through; a round block projects outward between the mandi 

 bles and has attached to its outer end by a rag the rudely carved 

 effigy of a walrus head with projecting tusks. The eyes and nostrils 

 are pierced through the mask. Above the eyes, upon each side, are 

 the head and shoulders of a wolf in relief. The remainder of the 

 wolf s body and all its limbs are carved free on a block extending 



