438 



THE POINT BARROW ESKIMO. 



sparrow or snipe, or a bit of wood, stone, some feathers or hair, that 

 they may not overset&quot; (vol. 1, p. 216), and perhaps the bone of a marine 

 animal, like the seal, is to protect the crew from drowning should the 

 boat upset, after all. 



No. 80520 [1150] from Utkiavwlfi is a hunch of feathers to lie carried 

 in the boat. It consists of nine wing feathers of the golden eagle, four 

 tied in a bunch with a bit of sinew round the quills, lour tied up with 

 one end of the short bit of seal thong which serves to tie the whole 

 bundle together, one of which has all the light-colored parts of the 

 feather stained with red ocher, and a single feather shaft carefully 

 wrapped up in a piece of entrail and wound spirally with a piece of 

 sinew braid. 



No. 80527-8 [1327] from Utkiavwln is the charm which will secure 

 good success in decrhuiiting if it is hung up outside of the snow house 

 in which the family is encamped. It consists of two roughly stuffed 

 skins of the black bellied plover (Charadrius sqnatarola), each with a 



Flo. 424. Amulet of whaling; stuffed godwit. 



stick run through the body so that one end supports the neck and the 

 other the tail, and the necks wound with sinew. One has no head. 

 A string of sinew braid is tied around the body of each, so as to leave 

 a free end at the back, to which is fastened a little cross piece of bone, by 

 which it may be secured to a becket. Like the rest of the amulets in 

 the collection this has evidently seen service, being very old, worn, and 

 faded. 



The other class of amulets, namely objects which have belonged to or 

 been in contact with certain persons or supernatural beings, or I may 

 add apparently certain localities, is represented 

 by a number of specimens. To the custom of 

 using such things as amulets, we undoubtedly owe 

 the preservation of most of the ancient weapons and 

 other implements, especially those made of wood, 

 bone, or other perishable substances, like the an 

 cient harpoon &quot;heads already described, one of which, No. 80544 [1410], 

 is still attached to the belt on which it was worn. 

 Fig. 425, No. 560C8 [308J, from Utkiavwlu is one of the ancient black 



FIG. 425. Amulet conswt- 

 ing of andeiit jade adz. 



