SKIN SCKAl KRS. 



205 



Fid. 2H!&amp;gt;. Skin scraper. 



this tool, which is grasped firmly in the right hand and poshed from 



the worker. This tool is also used for softening up skins which have 

 become stiffened from being wet and then dried. The teeth appear to 

 be less often used for such purposes than among the eastern Eskimo. 

 We obtained eighteen such scrapers, some without blades, and two 

 unmounted blades. Every woman owns one of these tools. While 

 they are all of the same general model, they vary a good deal in de 

 tails. Four different forms or subtypes have been recognized in the 

 series collected, all modifications of the form seen in Fig. 289, No. 

 89313 [955], which may be called the 

 type. The blade is of brown jasper, 

 rather coarsely flaked, 1-1 inches long. 

 It is wedged with pieces of skin, into 

 a deep slot in the tip of the handle, 

 which is of fossil ivory, slightly yellowed 

 from handling. The left side against 

 which the thumb rests is slightly flattened, and the right, slightly ex 

 cavated to receive the third and fourth fingers, which are bent round 

 under the lobe, their tips pressing against the concave under surface 

 of the latter. The fore and middle fingers rest upon the upper surface. 

 No. 89320 [1171] from Utkiavwifi, without a blade, is of the same 

 general pattern, but is slightly excavated on the left as well as the 

 right side so as to make a sort of shank. It is of fossil ivory, stained 

 a dingy orange, from age and grease. The two incised circles and dots 

 on the upper surface close to the slot make the end of the handle look 

 like the head of a Lophius, which it is perhaps meant to represent. 

 No. 89321 (S58), an old fossil ivory handle, has the left side slightly hol 

 lowed to receive the tip of the thumb, and a median keel on the upper 

 surface with a barely perceptible hollow on each side of it for the tips 

 of the fingers. This is a step toward the second subtype as shown in 

 Fig. 290 (No. 89317 [748] from Utkiavwifi, which lias no blade). This 



is of fossil ivory, 

 thicker and more 

 strongly arched 

 than the type de 

 scribed, deeply ex 

 cavated below so as 

 to form a broad lobe 

 at the butt, with 

 the upper surface 

 deeply grooved to 

 receive the tips of 

 the fore and middle fingers, and a slight hollow on the left side for the 

 thumb. This specimen is very neatly made and polished, andalltheedges 

 are rounded oft . One-half of the handle (lengthwise) and the outer quar 

 ter of the other half are stained with age and grease a beautiful amber 



Fio. 2(Ml. Skin scrapors bamllcH only. 



