318 



THE POINT BARKOW ESKIMO. 



namental seam on the waterproof gut shirts. The stitches employed 



have already been described under the head of clothing (which see). 



They hold the needle between the thumb and middle linger, with the 

 thimble on the forefinger (both are called by the same 

 name, tl kya) and sew toward them. This appears to 

 be the regular Eskimo method of sewing. 1 



At the present day they are well supplied with steel 

 needles (iniksun) of all sixes arid patterns, but formerly 

 they used bone needles made from the fibula (amllygruu) 

 of the reindeer. We collected sixty of these needles, 

 eighteen of which appear to be old and genuine. The 

 rest were more or less carefully made for sale. Nlka- 

 waalu told us that once when he and a young man were 

 out deer hunting a long distance from camp their boots 

 gave out. Having killed a deer he made thread from 

 the sinew, a needle from the bone, and with pieces of 

 the skin repaired their boots, so that they got home in 

 comfort. 



No. 89. 589 [1191], Fig. 325 will serve as the type of 

 these needles. This is a case 3 inches long, made of 



no. 325,-Quiii case of the butt of a large quill, closed with a plug of walrus 

 bone needles. hide, and contains 6 needles. One is 1-8 inches long, 



stout, and round-pointed, with a large eye. It is much discolored from 



age. The second is also round-pointed but more slender, 1-9 inches 



long, and flattened and expanded at the butt. The third is 2-4 inches 



long, and has a four- 

 sided point like a glov 

 er s needle. All three 



of these are very neatly 



made and appear old. 



The other three are 



stout, roughly made, 



and flat, respectively 



2-1, 2-2, and 2-5 inches 



long. Two of them look 



suspiciously new. This 



setwassaidto havebeen 



the property of the wife 



of Puka, Nlkawaalu s 



father. 



Fi^ . 326ft is &amp;lt;i pGOlll- l r - S20. Needles ami thimbles: (a) large hone needle and peculiar 



iarly large and flat nee- tbimhle ; (t) 1 &quot; athl:r thimblc8 with 1&amp;gt;olle &quot; M &quot; n &quot; s 



die (No. 89392 [1195] from Utkiavwlii) 3-2 inches long, with a round, 

 sharp point and a large eye, with little grooves running to the butt on 

 each side for the thread to lie in. This needle was perhaps specially 



Sw Parry. Second Voy., p. 337; Lyoll, Journal. ]&amp;gt;. 93; Kiimlirn, Contributions, J&amp;gt;. 25. 



