MURDOCH.) 



NEEDLE CASES. 



321 



Fig. 328 (No. 89364 [1243] from rtkiavwlfi) i&amp;gt; another ivory needle 

 case, 4-7 inches long. The tube was once ornamented with incised 

 patterns, but these are almost wholly worn off by constant handling. 

 The knob is carved into an ornamental shape, having a circle of six 

 round knobs round the middle. It has been suggested that this is 

 meant to represent a cloud-berry (Rubus chanuemorus), a fruit known 

 to the &quot;Nunatafimiun&quot; though not at Point Barrow. The hook is a 

 snap hook very much like those described in connection with the netting 

 weights, but larger (3 inches long) 

 and very broad at the upper end, 

 which is made into a broad ring. 

 The point of a steel needle still stick 

 ing in the flesh side of the strap 

 shows how the needles arc carried 

 with the points toward the knob. 



No. 89370 [1083], also from Utkiav- 

 wlii, has no kuob,but the end of the 

 strap is kept from slipping through 

 by rolling it up transversely and 

 catching it with a stitch of sinew. 

 It has a broad flat snap hook similar 

 to the last, but cut on the edges into 

 ornamental scallops. The tube is 

 ornamented with an incised pattern 

 colored red with ocher, and is 5-2 

 long. No. 5(5575 [7] is au old tube of 

 brown walrus ivory, enlarged into a 

 knob at one end. It has no knob or 

 hook, but a new strap of white seal 

 skin, in the lower end of which is tied 

 a large knot. The other pattern has 

 the cylinder made of a hollow long&quot; 

 bone, in its natural shape. This bone 

 appears to be almost always the hu- 

 merus of some large bird, probably 



a SWan. The strap has usually HO Fio.:i28. Needle cases: (a) case with belt hook ; 

 -, T . ,. i (&) cast opiin. showing bone uetMllos. 



knob, but is kept from slipping 



through by knotting the end or tying on a large bead or a bear s toe, or 

 some such object too large to go through the tube. None of these have 

 belt hooks except one new and roughly made specimen. 



These bone tubes are apparently older than the neat ivory cylinders, 

 and it is not unlikely that the belt hook was not invented till the former 

 was mostly out of fashion. No. 89301 [1239], Fig. 3286 from Utkiavwln, 

 is one of these which has for knob one of the large dark blue glass \ 

 beads which used to bring such enormous prices in the early days of 

 Arctic trading, and which are still the kind most highly prized. The 

 9 ETH 21 



