GRAPHIC ART OF THE ESKIMOS. 775 



The etching was done with sharp edges of fragments of fliiit. Sometimes these 

 stone fragments were skillfully fastened into a piece of wood and used as gravers or 

 oven as lancets. In later years files and saws were used to cut the ivory into the 

 required shape, and pieces of steel were used to make the holes. Often a three- 

 cornered file was the instrument used to make the holes. 



The drill bow or other implement or utensil was not produced in a day or even in a 

 month, as these articles were usually created for personal use. I have known of 

 such articles heing taken along while on a protracted hunting expedition and there 

 worked upon to while away the oftentimes tedious hours of watching game. Again 

 I have known when a native had requested a friend to etch some design, and in their 

 festivals, commemorating their dead, these articles were often presented and highly 

 cherished as gifts. Other articles of ivory often passed as a legacy from a relative 

 to another, and highly valued by the owner. 



With respect to the walrus ivory and antler, both of which are 

 employed by the engraver for the portrayal of various figures, Mr. 

 Turner writes : l 



You will observe many of the larger objects of ivory and antler have outer or 

 engraved portions of herder substance than the inner or core portion. You will per 

 ceive that in bent or curved aifairs the outer part is always the denser portion of 

 the material. This or these substances warp or curve because of their unequal 

 density of parts. The native saw that heat would unshape a straight piece of ivory 

 or antler, and, taking advantage of what the sun did, he laid aside the piece where 

 it would become moist, and then placed it before the lire, core next to the lire, and 

 warping was the result. 



In the winter the heat of the sun was not sufficient to produce harm, but when the 

 warm rays began to heat objects, the native was careful to put his ivory or bone 

 implements of the chase in the shade of a house or on the side of his cache, or within 

 a place where heat could not affect it. 



I never saw them dip any such object in hot water or try to bend it by force. 



The absence of graphic art among the Eskimo of Greenland, Labra 

 dor, and the region between Hudson Bay and the Mackenzie River, 

 can not entirely be attributed to the lack of horn, bone, and walrus 

 ivory, as one or more of these materials appear abundant in certain 

 localities. By graphic art as here named is not intended the ordinary 

 ornamentation by means of lines, dots, etc., nor the sketches on paper 

 referred to by Doctor Rink, but the etchings upon .the several materials 

 by means of gravers, to portray graphically records of hunting expe 

 ditions, shamauistic ceremonies, and other subjects of which numerous 

 examples are here given passim. The great supply of ivory in Alaska 

 comes from near Port Muller, in Bristol Bay, and the more northern 

 coast and islands. Mr. Dall, who is authority for this statement, adds, 

 furthermore, &quot;that the amount of walrus ivory taken annually will 

 average 100,000 pounds.&quot; 2 



Some of the utensils in the National Museum are made of fossil ivory; 

 and of this to Mr. Dall remarks, &quot;that it is not uncommon in many 

 parts of the valleys of the Yukon and Kuskoquim. It is usually found 

 on the surface, not buried as in Siberia, and all that I have seen has 

 been so much injured by the weather that it was of little commercial 



1 Letter dated March 18, 1896. 



* &quot;Alaska and its Resources.&quot; Boston, 1870, p. 504. 



