260 THE POINT 13AKROW ESKIMO. 



word in (ireenlandic may indicate that their ancestors once used the 

 large wolf-killer, when they lived where wolves were found. The defi 

 nition of u ju kuaK, the ordinary word for the gull-catcher (see below) in 

 the Gr^nlandske Ordbog is the only evidence we have of the use of this 

 contrivance in Greenland. This is one of the several cases in which we 

 only learn of the occurrence of customs, etc., noted at Point Barrow, in 

 Greenland, by finding the name of the thing in question defined in the 

 dictionary. 



Trapx. Foxes are caught in the winter by deadfalls or steel traps 

 (uiinori a), set generally along the beach, where the foxes are wander 

 ing about in search of carrion thrown up by the sea. In setting the 

 deadfalls a little house about 2 feet high is built, in which is placed 

 the bait of meat or blubber. A heavy log of driftwood is placed across 

 the entrance, with one end raised high enough to allow a fox to pass 

 under it, and supported by a regular &quot;figure of four&quot; of sticks. The 

 fox can not get at the bait without passing under the log, and in doing 

 so he must touch the trigger of the &quot;figure of four&quot; (4)&amp;gt; which brings 

 down the log across his back. When a steel trap is used it is not 

 baited itself, but buried in the snow at the entrance of a similar little 

 house, so that the fox can not reach the bait without stepping on the 

 plate of the trap and thus springing it. Many foxes are taken with 

 such traps in the course of the winter. 



The boys use a sort of snare for catching setting birds. This is 

 simply a strip of whalebone made into a slip-noose, which is set over 

 the eggs, with the end fastened to the ground, so that the bird is caught 

 by the leg. Once or twice, when there was a light snow on the beach, 

 we saw a native catching the large gulls as follows : He had a stick of 

 hard wood, pointed at each end, to the middle of which was fastened 

 one end of a stout string about 6 feet long. The other end was secured 

 to a stake driven into the frozen gravel, and the stick wrapped with 

 blubber and laid on the beach, with the string carefully hidden in the 

 snow. The gull came along, swallowed the lump of blubber, and as 

 soon as he tried to fly away the string made the sharp stick turn like a 

 toggle across his gullet, the points forcing their way through, so that 

 lie was held fast. A similar contrivance, but somewhat smaller and 

 made of bone, is used at Norton Sound for catching gulls and inurres, 

 a nnmber of them being attached to a trawl line and baited with fish. 

 Mr. Nelson collected a large number of these. 1 In regard to the use of 

 this contrivance in Greenland, see above under &quot; wolf-killers.&quot; 



Snow-goggles. The wooden goggles worn to protect the eyes from 

 snow -blindness maybe considered as accessories to hunting, as they are 

 worn chiefly by those engaged in hunting or fishing, especially when 

 deer-hunting in the spring on the snow-covered tundra or when in the 

 whaleboats among the ice. They are simply a wooden cover for the 



1 See Dr. Rail s Prehistoric Fishing, ]&amp;gt;. 12. Fig. 2, p. 13, represents oue of these from Norton Sound, 

 and Figs. :i-S, a series of similar implements from the bone caves of France. 



