88 CRUISE OP THE STEAMER CORWIN. 



Ivory dipper. — Carved from fossil ivory, which is common on the Kowak and Selawik Rivers. 

 Used iu dipping up water, bailing out boats, etc. 



Wooden apoons. — I saw one specimen of a wooden spoon evidently made in imitation of a metal 

 table-spoou which had been seen by the maker ou the coast. 



Forks. — I saw no forks, but shortly after our advent into the river country one of the natives 

 accompanying our party made a very good imitation of our metal ones, of bone with a wooden 

 handle. This he used, much to the amusement of himself and the other natives of the jiarty. 



Fire. — Among these natives the flint and steel will probably never be supplanted by the more 

 modern invention of matches, although the latter are used to some extent during the summer 

 season by the coast natives and others who visit the whale-ships. They are not considered as 

 desirable for their uses as the more compact flint and steel. Several plants indigenous to the region 

 furnish an abundant and easily obtained supply of material to make tinder. Among the natives 

 of the interior there are a few old people who have letaiued the art of making fire by the use of 

 the fire drill, but the younger generation ai)pareutly do not practice it. 



Lamp. — Shallow bowl carved from soap-stone. Used for heating and lighting the winter 

 bouses and for cooking. There are several sizes, but the ones most commonly seen are about seven 

 inches long and four and one-half inches wide, outside measurement. Tbe space carved out is 

 oblong in shape, and there is a margin of about an inch between this space and the edge of the 

 lamp. In use, the hollow space is filled with oil, and moss is placed around the margin to serve as 

 a wick. The lamp produces a dense smoke, but throws out cousiderable heat. 



OH bags. — For holding oil used in lamp and in food. They are made of the entire skin of the 

 hair-seal. A small aperture is left, through which the oil is poured when wanted. This is closed 

 by a cord of deer skin or sinew. 



Stune ai-es. — Two specimens of stone axes were seen, one of which was jade, and the other a 

 dark brown stone of slaty nature. Neither was hafted. They were exhibited as curiosities with a 

 view to sale to our party. Ou the lower river I saw one stone adz hafted and iu use. The blade 

 was four inches long by two wide, wedge-shaped, and had been chipped to its present shape. The 

 handle was a short piece of wood, to the end of which the adz was lashed with a rawhide thong. 



PERSONAL ADORNMENT. 



The hideous custom so prevalent among the males of the coast Eskimo of wearing "labrets," 

 disks or knobs of stone or glass, in incisions made iu the lower lip is rare among the natives of 

 the interior. A few of the old men had incisions in their lips; but either they were too poor to 

 have them or the custom is dying out, for 1 saw. very few labrets on the Kowak River. Small 

 pieces of beautifully polished jade, of a light green color, were seen on several occasions and are 

 greatly prized by the owners. They are worn as pendants ou strings around the neck. As a 

 mark of special favor one of our native guides, who was the fortunate owner of one of these 

 charms, allowed me to wear it on my watch guard for a while, but I could not induce him to sell it. 



The women tattoo the chin with three vertical lines on arriving at the age of pubertj' and 

 increase the number of lines after marriage. I observed on several occasions women whose skins 

 were marked with a broad mark of soot under each eye, but I could not ascertain whether this 

 was for ornament or the observance of some custom in regard to their superstitious belief. All 

 I could learn from An(lr(5 on this subject was that they marked themselves in this manner at 

 certain times because "they liked to." Ear-rings made of bright-colored beads strung on sinew 

 are common with the women, and mostof the younger girls have their hair neatly braided and the 

 ends wrapped with strings of small beads. I observed mauy of the women with finger-rings made 

 of brass or iron, and a few with bracelets made of a piece of rawhide on which was strung a large 

 bead, a brass button, or a round piece of ivory. The ornamentation of the clothing is not so 

 elaborate as that of some of the coast tribes, and rarely shows anything more than a narrow fringe 

 of fur around the edge of the "parka." 



All these tribes are universally addicted to the use of tobacco, and the pipe is always an 

 article upon which cousiderable work iu the way of ornament is spent. There were seen so many 



