890 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1895. 



a canoe lying on its side can not be determined. To the right of this, 

 however, is another figure of a seal being dragged toward the right, 

 and approaching two men whose arms are uplifted as if in joy at 

 receiving assistance. The partly obliterated figure of a human being 

 is seen approaching the entrance to one of the ordinary winter habita 

 tions, from the door of which, as well as from the middle portion, 



.^**- 



V 



Fig. 106. 

 WHALE HUNTERS. 



appear two vertical sticks with small figures at the top, both repre 

 senting votive offerings. The scaffold at the right represents a store 

 house used for food or grain. 



In fig. 10() is presented another illustration of the indication, picto- 

 rially, of what the hunter desired, or saw, and how much thereof he 

 secured. The three men in the baidarka are headed toward two whales, 

 the foremost one of the former, he in the bow, being represented in the 

 act of casting a harpoon, the dotted line indicating the course. The 

 whale struck by the weapon is headed toward the hunters, indicating 

 that he was captured j whereas the second whale is going in the con 

 trary direction, denoting that he had been observed and very much 

 wanted, perhaps, but not captured. The short projections above the 

 heads of the whales denote fins and seem thus to specify the finback. 



The cruciform figures 

 denote fiying birds. 



A peculiarly inter 

 esting specimen of art 

 is illustrated in fig. 

 107, and consists of a 

 flat piece of ivory, 4 

 inches long and 1.2 

 inches wide, roughly 

 carved and covered 

 with incised figures. 

 The specimen is made 

 of a fragment of an 

 old snow- shovel edge, 

 is perforated at one end, and has attached to it by a strand of sinew a 

 little handle formed of ivory, and represents two bowhead whales with 

 the heads attached, so that a slight stricture results, about which the 

 cord is tied. 



The spiracles on the effigies are incised and blackened. 



&quot;The upper edge is carved into five distinct heads first, a rude 



bear s head, with the eyes and nostrils incised and blackened as usual j 



then four human heads, with a face on each side. The front faces have 



the noses and brows in low relief, and the eyes, nostrils, and mouths 



Fig. 107. 



IVORY CARVING BEARING PICTOGRAPHS, POINT BARROW. 



