MURDOCH.] MECHANICAL ANIMALS. 373 



The fox was thus held up by the spring parallel to the length of the 

 board with its head and forelegs raised. A string of sinew braid 10 

 feet long was passed through a hole in the septum of the fox s nose and 

 knotted once so as to leave two equal ends. These ends were carried 

 down through two holes, one in each edge of the board 94 inches from 

 the forward end, and each was tied to a roughly-rounded bit of pine stick 

 round which it was reeled when not in use. By pulling these strings 

 together, the fox \vas made to dart down his head, which was raised 

 by the spring as soon as the string was slackened. By pulling one 

 or the other string the fox could be made to dart to one or the other 

 side of the board. 



One man manipulated the fox, pulling a string with each hand. The 

 lemming s holes were about 1J inches in diameter, one in each edge of 

 the board and at such a distance from the end that when the string, 

 which was 7 feet 4 inches long, was drawn through them, it crossed 

 the board just where the fox s nose struck, when it was pulled down. 

 The ends of the string were reeled round bits of stick. The lemming 

 was a narrow strip of wolfs fur, about 3 inches long, doubled in the mid 

 dle, with the middle of the string hitched into the bight. By pulling the 

 ends of the string alternately, the lemming was made to jump out of 

 the hole on one side, run across the board and into the other, very much 

 as a live lemming runs from one tunnel to another on the tundra. It 

 took two persons, one on each side, to handle the lemming. The fox- 

 skin and spring appeared to be older than the rest of the machine. 

 The board was originally 10 inches or 1 foot longer at each end, but 

 had to be cut off to pack it. 



Petroff mentions a similar custom among the &quot; Nushegagmute&quot; of 

 Bristol Bay, of introducing stuffed animals moved with hidden strings 

 in their performances; 1 and Dall 2 describes a festival at Norton Sound, 

 where a dead seal was brought in and moved about with strings. 



Description of festivals. It is greatly to be regretted that we had not 

 established such intimate relations with the natives, as afterwards 

 was the case, in the winter of I881- 82, since this was the only one of 

 the two seasons that the great winter festival was held at Utkiavwin. 

 In the winter of 1S82- S3 there had been so many deaths in the village 

 that the natives did not feel like celebrating any regular festival, and 

 only indulged in a few impromptu dances late in the season. These 

 were unfortunately held in the evening when the writer s tour of duty 

 at the station prevented his witnessing them. Those of the party who 

 did go over brought back only fragmentary and rather vague accounts 

 of the performance. The confining nature of the work at the station 

 prevented our witnessing any of the celebrations at Xuwfik or at 

 Pernyu, when the &quot;Nonatanmiun&quot; visitors were entertained. 



The best accounts we have of any performance is given by Lieut. 



1 Kcpurt, p. 135. Alaska, p. 15fi. 



