GRAPHIC ART OF THE ESKIMOS. 777 



tarandus caribou Kerr), a variety found farther south than the Barren- 

 ground variety, which is believed to be the one best known to the 

 Alaskan Eskimo. Several utensils employed in net weaving are shown 

 in plate 13, figs. 1, 2, 3, and several short, stout slabs of horn, neatly 

 ornamented with animals and short records of hunting exploits, are 

 represented in plate 14, figs. 2-7. 



No specimens of horn of either the mountain sheep or the mountain 

 goat, both of which are employed by various other and more southern 

 coast tribes, have as yet been found in the collection of either the 

 National Museum, or that of the Alaska Commercial Company, in San 

 Francisco, California. 



BONE. 



Another article very often met with, inscribed with various kinds of 

 ornamentation and pictorial work, consists of bone, both the larger 

 bones of the legs and ribs of reindeer, and the humerus of the swan, 

 the latter serving as tubes for needle cases or snuff tubes. Specimens 

 are shown farther on. 



A small piece of bone, rudely incised, is shown herewith in plate 14, 

 fig. 1. 



Some ornamented bone knives will be referred to under the special 

 class of subjects to which the records pertain. Such weapons are 

 employed in skinning and sometimes in cutting up animals, and native 

 portrayals of such avocations are also reproduced in several illustra 

 tions. The handles, and sometimes the blades of such knives, some 

 with steel blades used in working and fashioning the ivory rods and bag 

 handles, are decorated as in plate 15, fig. 1. 



WOOD. 



Wood is sometimes used for various articles, such as boxes for tobacco, 

 small utensils and tools, and women s trinkets. These are frequently 

 incised, but the ornamentation is limited to simple figures composed of 

 straight lines, and perhaps dots. 



In the country of theMagemuts who inhabited the vicinity of Cape 

 Eomauzoff and reach nearly to the mouth of the Yukon Eiver wood is 

 reported as very scarce, and is an article of trade. 1 



Wood is sometimes used for ornaments, masks, and toys, the surface 

 of which may be whitened, and upon this other designs are portrayed. 

 Such an instance is shown in plate 16, consisting of a dancing mask. 



The Greenland map, before mentioned, may also be noted in this con 

 nection. 



The only other examples in the collections of the National Museum 

 are from Point Barrow, and may here be reproduced, together with the 

 descriptions given by Mr. Murdoch: 



This consists of a toy obtained in Point Barrow and deposited in the 



1 &quot;Alaska and its Resources.&quot; Boston, 1880, p. 407. 



