374 THE POINT BARROW ESKIMO. 



Kay. He and Capt. Herendeen went over to Utkiavwlfi by special invi 

 tation on December 3, 1881, and witnessed one scene of the &quot; wood,&quot; or 

 &quot; tree dance.&quot; Many visitors were present from Nuwiik on the occasion 

 of this dance, which lasted for two days and nights. On arriving at 

 the village they found a crowd of upwards of 200 people assembled 

 round the entrance of the ku dyigl. In front of the entrance were 

 drawn up in line five men and two women dancing to the music of a 

 drum and two singers. 



They were all dressed in new deerskin clothes, with the snow-white 

 flesh side turned out, and wore conical dance caps like that already 

 described. They kept time to the music with their feet, moving their 

 bodies to right and left with spasmodic jerks. To quote from Lieut. 

 Kay s MS. notes : 



Each dancer in turn sprang to the front and in extravagant gestures went through 

 the motions of killing seal, walrus, and deer, and the pursuit &amp;lt;&amp;gt;f the whale. Each, 

 as he finished, took his jilace in the, line, was cheered by the crowd, then added his 

 voice to the monotonous chant of the singers. 



After all had finished as many as could get in entered the &quot;dance 

 house.&quot; At one end of this a small space was partitioned off with a 

 piece of an old sail, and from the roof in the middle hung an object in 

 tended to represent a tree. This was made of two oblong boxes about 

 6 inches in diameter, open at both ends, the lower about -! feet long 

 and the upper about 1, hinged together with seal thong. At one side 

 hung a wolfs skull, and on the other a dried raven. Two performers 

 sat in the middle of the floor with their legs extended one between the 

 other s legs, with his nose touching the tree. A row of old men beat 

 drums and sang, while the performers chanted a monotonous song, in 

 which could be heard the words &quot;rum, tobacco, seal, deer, and 

 whale.&quot; 



Presently the bottom of the curtain was lifted and out crawled five 

 men on all fours, wearing on their heads the stuffed skins of the heads 

 of different animals the wolf, bear, fox, lynx, and dog. They swung 

 their heads from side to side in unison, keeping time to the music, 

 uttering a low growl at each swing and shaking their rattle mittens. 

 This they kept up for fifteen or twenty minutes, while the chant still 

 went on, and the chief performer, with excited gestures, embraced the 

 tree and rubbed his nose against it from time to time. At last all 

 &quot;sprang to their feet with a howl, and ended the dance with wild ges 

 tures.&quot; Similar scenes, with new performers, which our party did 

 not stay to witness, succeeded this, with feasting in the different 

 houses. 



Capt. Herendeen also witnessed a small dance, lasting only one even 

 ing, which bore a curious resemblance to some of the so-called &quot;favor 

 figures&quot; performed in the &quot;German cotillon&quot; of civilized dancers. This 

 kind of dance was performed purely for pleasure, and had nothing re- 



