MURDOCH.] ART. 391 



two iron points close together in the end of a handle. While weapons 

 are decorated only with conventional patterns, other implements of 

 bone or ivory, especially those pertaining to the chase, like the seal 

 drags, etc., already mentioned, are frequently carved into the shape of 

 animals, as well as being ornamented with conventional patterns. Carv 

 ings of animals heads usually have the month, nostrils, etc., indicated 

 by blackened incisions, and often have small, colored heads, bits of 

 wood, or ivory inlaid for the eyes. When heads are used, the perfora 

 tion of the bead is generally made to represent the pupil of the eye. 

 Beads were also nsed for ornamenting dishes and other wooden objects. 



The harpoon blade boxes of wood carved into the shape of the animal 

 to be pursued have been already described. Other wooden objects, like 

 the shafts of lances, and arrows, paddles, boxes, dishes, the woodwork of 

 snowshoes, sledges, umiaks, ete., are frequently painted either all over, 

 or in stripes or bands. The pigment generally used is red ocher, some 

 times set off with stripes of black lead. The only case in which a differ 

 ent pigment is used is that of some arrows from Sidaru, which, in addi 

 tion to the usual black or red rings, have a rather dingy green ring 

 round the shaft. This green looks as if it might have been derived from 

 the &quot;green fungus w ]&amp;gt;&amp;lt; ziz&quot; mentioned by Dall as in use among the an 

 cient Aleuts. 1 The red ocher is applied smoothly in a, rather thin coat 

 which looks as if it were always put on in the manner observed by 

 Capt. Herendeen, who saw a man painting a new sled at Utkiavwln. He 

 licked the freshly scraped wood with his tongue, so as to moisten it 

 witli saliva and then rubbed it with a lump of red ocher. The custom 

 of painting wooden objects with red ocher seemed to be rather more 

 common among the &quot;Nunataiimiun,&quot; from whom perhaps the Point 

 Barrow people borrowed the fashion, which is not mentioned among the 

 eastern Eskimo. Noidenskiold states that red is the favorite color 

 among the n atives of Pitlekaj. 2 



The painting of the arrow shafts in many cases curiously resembles 

 the marks used by modern archers to distinguish the ownership of their 

 shafts, and may have formerly served the same purpose. We made no 

 inquiries about the matter on the spot, and there is no certain evidence 

 in the series of arrows collected that these are or are not marks of own 

 ership. Some arrows, apparently the property of the same man, have 

 different marks, while arrows from different villages are similarly 

 marked. On examining our series of fifty arrows from the three villages 

 (t ourteeen from Xuwfik, twenty from Utkiavwifi, and sixteen from 

 Sidaru) it will be seen that the commonest style of painting is to have 

 the shaft painted red from the beginning or middle of the feathering to 

 about one-fifth of its length from the head. Twenty arrows are marked 

 in this way eleven from Nuwfik, belonging to at least two distinct 

 sets, and nine from Utkiavwifi, belonging to three sets. Nine have 



CoutributioiiH to N. A. Ethll., vol. 1, p. 86. Vega, vol. 2, p. IK. 



