GRAPHIC ART OF THE ESKIMOS. 



913 



found in Algonkian pictography and does not keep in general liar 

 mony with Alaskan art, although the whales, which are true, typical, 

 Alaskan examples, seems at once to repel the suspicion of intrusive 

 characters, or such as are non-Innuit. 



c 

 Fig. 136. 



MYTHIC SERPENTS. 



Fig. 137. 



MYTHIC ANIMAL DEVOURING NA 

 TIVE. 



The four perforations in the piece are for attaching it to the gunwale 

 of the umiak. 



The illustrations given, a, I), and c, of fig. 13G, represent mythic 

 serpents, and are described in some of the folk tales, c very much 

 resembles the u water monster&quot; of the Ojibwa, 

 though it is scarcely possible that the cult of 

 the latter could have been conveyed, even in 

 the slightest degree, to the Eskimo. Other 

 intervening tribes, notably so those of the 

 Athabascas family, have serpent myths, and 

 from this people the idea may have been con 

 veyed to the Innuit, especially as the latter 

 are in frequent communication with the Kenai Indians, the northwest- 

 ernuiost tribe of the above-mentioned farniy. 



It has been suggested, too, that the creatures may have been copied 

 from or suggested by illustrations in newspapers or other literature. 



In fig. 137 is shown a mythic creature taking up a man and preparing 

 to devour him. The belief in water monsters survives among the 

 natives of the southern coast, opposite the island of Kadiak, a creature 

 resembling somewhat a reptilian form in imitation of 

 an alligator, of which illustrations are also given else 

 where. 



The outlines in fig. 138 are not sufficiently specific to 

 indicate the kind of creature intended, but the indica 

 tion of the heart, together with the voice line, or life 

 line, extending therefrom to the open mouth, is very much like some of 

 the figures found among the Zuni and the Ojibwa. 



This peculiar line denotes the animal to be of a mythic or, perhaps, 

 sacred character, and has reference to ceremonials known only to the 

 shamans or members of certain cult societies. 

 NAT HITS 95 58 



Fig. 138. 



MYTHIC ANIMAL. 



