SCRAPER CUPS. 



299 



moving the subcutaneous tissue, etc., while, the, stone, scrapers just de 

 scribed are, better for softening the skin. 



It is the distal end of the &quot;cannon&quot; bone or metacarpal, of a reindeer, 

 G-2 inches long, with the two condyles forming the handle. At the other 

 end the posterior face of the shaft is chamfered off so as to expose the, 

 medullary cavity for about 2 incites, leaving a sharp edge, on each 

 side. The tip is roughly broken off. The tool appears 

 to be old but the two condyles have been recently carved 

 rudely into two human faces, one male (with marks for 

 labrets) and the other female. There is a somewhat 

 similar tool in the Museum brought by Mr. Nelson from 

 Norton Sound. 



Scraper cupx (ohovwln). In removing the last of the 

 blubber from the skins of seals or walruses when they 

 wish to save the oil, they scrape it off with a little oblong 

 cup of walrus ivory with a sharp edge, at one or both 

 ends. The cup, of course, catches the oil which is trans 

 ferred to a dish. These cups are sometimes, I believe, 

 also used for dipping oil. We collected ten of these cups, 

 of which No. 89251 [1287], Fig. 300a, will serve as the 

 type. This is 3-7 inches long, carved out of a single 

 piece of walrus ivory, and worked down from the inside 

 to a sharp edge on each end. The carving is smoothly 

 done on the outside, but more roughly within, where it 

 is somewhat hacked. It is stained a dark yellow with oil 

 and polished on the outside, probably by much handling. 

 Fig. 3006 (No. 89258 [ 10110] also from Utkiavwm) is a sim 

 ilar cup, but has a sharp edge only at one, end which is cut out in a. 

 concave curve. 



The, ten cups in the collection arc all about the same shape and size 

 and all of walrus ivory, stained yellow with oil. The largest is 4 inches 

 long and 2j wide, and the smallest, 3 by 2-1 inches. The majority are 



Fid. 290. Bone 

 scraper. 



a 6 



FUJ. 300. ScTapor (Mips. 



about 3 by 2i inches. Five, of the ten have sharp edges at both ends, 

 the rest at one only. Mr. Nelson brought home, specimens of this im 

 plement front Point Hope and St. Lawrence Island, but I do not find 

 it mentioned elsewhere. 



With these tools and their knives, they do all the work of preparing 

 skins for clothing, boat covers, etc. I had no opportunity of seeing the 



