444 



THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT 



[ETH. ANN. 18 



FIG. 154 Drawing of a composite animal in a 

 wooden tray (J). 



f-mum M-bvt-d-ga, sea fox. This is described as being similar in 

 appearance to the red fox, but it is said to live far out at sea and is 

 very fierce, often attacking and killing hunters. 



Ktfk-wh&n -u-gh&t Jcty-d-lu -ntte. The killer whale (akh -lut) is undoubt 

 edly the original of this mythic creature. It is described as being simi 

 lar in form to the killer whale and 

 is credited with the power of 

 changing at will to a wolf; after 

 roaming about over the laud it 

 may return to the sea and again 

 become a whale. While in the 

 wolf form it is known by the above 

 name, and the Eskimo say they 

 know that this change takes place as they have seen wolf tracks lead 

 ing to the edge of the sea ice and ending at the water, or beginning at 

 the edge of the water and leading to the shore. This of course results 

 from the breaking away of a portion of the ice on which the wolf tracks 

 had been. These animals are said to be very fierce and to kill men. 

 The same power of changing its form is sometimes credited to the white 

 whale, which interchanges form with the reindeer, as shown in the 

 drawing, reproduced in figure 154, on the bottom of a wooden tray from 

 south of the Yukon mouth. This belief is prevalent among all the 

 Eskimo along the shore of Bering sea. 



A strange, crocodile-like animal, known as pal-rai-yuk, is painted on 

 the sides of umiaks and on the inside of wooden dishes (see figures 

 155, 150) by natives along lower Yu 

 kon and Kuskokwim rivers. A mask 

 (plate xcv, 3) from the tundra south 

 of the Yukon mouth has this animal 

 drawn down each side of the face. 

 According to the traditions of the peo 

 ple in this district the climate in an 

 cient times was very much warmer 

 than at present and the winters were 

 shorter. In those days the mythic 

 animals referred to were abundant in 

 the swampy country between the two 

 rivers, being more common near the 

 Kuskokwim, where the climate was 

 more temperate than on the Yukon. 



In those days the waterfowl and other birds came back from the 

 south in February and the snow melted during that month and the 

 water ran into the passages of houses as it does now in April. At 

 that time the pal-rai-yuk lived in lakes, creeks, and marshes, where it 

 killed men and animals for food. Several of the lower Yukon Eskimo 

 recounted the killing of the last one by a hunter whose wife the beast 



FIG. 155 Drawing of tlie pftl-rai-ytik in a 

 wooden tray (J). 



