l6 UNIVERSITY MUSEUM ANTHROPOLOGICAL PUBLICATION VOL. VI 



northerners strike the back of the rim with their sticks, while 

 the Yukon people belabor the face of the drum. 



The leader of the chorus frequently flourishes a baton, made 

 from a fox tail or the skin of the ermine which is mounted on a 

 stick. With this he marks the time of the dance. In Plate XIV, 

 the white blur is the ermine at the end of his stick. It is very 

 difficult to obtain a good picture in the ill lighted kasgi, and not 

 often that the natives will allow one taken there. 



One indispensable part of a male dancer's outfit is his 

 gloves. I have never seen a man dancing without them. 

 These are usually of wolverine, or of reindeer with elaborate 

 trimmings, but on ordinary occasions any kind will do. The 

 women do not share this peculiarity. In place of gloves they 

 wear handlets of grass decorated with feathers of duck or of 

 ptarmigan. The men in the Totem Dances also wear handlets 

 which are carved and painted to represent the particular totem 

 they seek to honor. These too are fantastically decorated with 

 feathers, usually of the loon. The central feather is stripped, 

 and crowned with a tuft of white down. Both men and women 

 wear armlets and fillets of skin or feathers according to the 

 animal character they represent. When in the full swing of the 

 dance with fur and feathers streaming they present a pleasing 

 spectacle, a picture full of the same wild grace and poetic motion 

 which characterizes the animal forbears from which they claim 

 descent. 



The chief characters in the Totem and Comic Dances wear 

 masks and carry staves decorated with feathers. Occasionally 

 the women assistants carry feathered wands (Kelizruk). 



Of the masks there is a great variety ranging from the plain 

 wooden masks to those of such great size that they are suspended 



