174 THE POINT HARROW KSKIMO. 



tliin, long shavings which curl up like &quot;curled hair,&quot; are carefully saved 

 and used for the padding between stocking and boot. Whalebone is 

 also sometimes shaved for this special purpose. The tool is essentially 

 a little spokeshave about 4 inches long, which is held by the index and 

 second finger of the right hand, one oil each handle, with the thumb 

 pressed against one end, and is drawn toward the workman. The col 

 lection contains three specimens of the ordinary form (savigu), repre 

 sented by No. 89300 [885] (figured in Point Barrow lleport, Ethnology, 

 PL in, Fig. 0). This has a steel blade and a haft of walrus ivory. The 

 upper face of the haft is convex and the under flat, and the blade, 

 which is beveled only on the upper face, is set at a slight inclination to 

 the flat face of the haft. The edge of the blade projects 0-2 inch from 

 the haft above and 0-, J below. The hole at one end of the haft is for a 

 lanyard to hang it up by. The other two are of essentially the same 

 pattern, but have hafts of reindeer antler. 



The collection also contains six tools of this description, with stone 

 blades, but they are all new and very carelessly made, with hafts of 

 coarse-grained bone. The shape of the tools is shown in Fig. 14(3, No. 

 89049 [1213], from Utkiavwln, which has a rough blade of soft, light 



greenish slate. The other five have blades of 

 black or gray flint, roughly flaked. All these 

 blades are glued in with oil dregs. No. 89C52 

 [1225] is like the others in shape, but more 

 FIO. 146. whalebone snavp. siatc neatly made, and is peculiar in having a blade 



of hard, compact bone. This is inserted by saw 

 ing a deep, narrow slit along one side of the haft from end to end. The 

 blade is wedged into the middle of the slit, the ends of which are neatly 

 filled in with slips of the same material as the haft. This was the only 

 tool of the kind seen. It is very probable that shaves. of stone were 

 formerly used, though we obtained no genuine specimens. The use of 

 oblong chips of flint for this purpose would naturally suggest itself to 

 a savage, and the convenience of fitting these flakes into a little haft 

 would soon occur to him. No. 89010 [1170] is such an oblong flint, 

 flaked to an edge on one face, which is evidently old, and which was 

 said to have been used for shaving whalebone. The material is black 

 flint. Whalebone is often shaved nowadays with a common knife. The 

 slab of bone is laid upon the thigh and the edge of the knife pressed 

 firmly against it, with the blade perpendicular to the surface of the 

 slab, which is drawn rapidly under it. 



Sau-ts. If the Eskimo had not already invented the saw before they 

 became acquainted with the whites they readily adopted the tool even 

 when they had scanty materials for making it. Grant/. 1 speaks of &quot; a 

 little lock saw&quot; as one of a Greenlander s regular tools in his time, and 

 Egede 2 mentions handsaws as a regular article of trade. Capt. Parry 3 



1 History of Greenland, vol. 1, p. 149. 2 Greenland, p. 175. 3 2d Voyage, p. 536. 



