October, kS64.J 



Preparation of Ilcindccr-.'^Lu/s. 



1)1 



cation. The meals l)eiiiu;' finished, each one scra})es the grease from 

 his face into his nioutli and hcks his fni<^ers. 



Tlie Innuits Inisily employed themselves diirini;- the i-ciiuiiiHlcr of 

 the o})en season in the i)reparation of reindeer-skins foi- dresses ;ind 

 bed-coverings ; their custom in this differing from that of the natives <»i' 

 Cumberland Sound, in the help given to the women by the men. Tlie 

 processes for this, Hall says, are; first, to scrape the skin by an 

 instrument called sek-Jwon (by the Frobisher Bay Innuits, tcg-se- 

 koon). This instrument is about 6 inches long, including the liandle, 



Boue edge. Inin edge. 



SEK-KOONS UK SKIN SCKArEUS, HALF fSIZK. 



(Deposited by Hall at the Smithsonian Institution, ■Washington.') 



and is made of a peculiar kind of whet or oil stone, or else of musk-ox 

 or reindeer bone, or of sheet-iron. The second step is to dry the .skins 

 thoroughly; the third, to scrape again with the svh-koon, taking otf 



