80 THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT Ieth.ann. 18 



rounded growth of wood which had formed an excrescence on the 

 branch which Serves as the handle. 



Figure 23, 2, from Sabotnisky, is a small deerhoru mallet with a han- 

 dle 3i inches in length, pierced at its outer end for a cord and with 

 the head rounded above and truncated below. In the front are carved 

 two large, eye-like cavities with a rudely shaped nose and a slightly 

 incised groove to represent the mouth, giving the front a resemblance 

 to a grotesque human face. 



impi.eme:n^ts used i:^ arts axd maj^ttfactures 



IVORY AND BONE WORKING TOOLS 



In former times the tools used by the Eskimo for working ivory, bone, 

 and deerhoru were chipped from flint or other hard stones, and some- 

 times for etching or scoring deeper lines, the canine teeth of small 

 mammals were used, mounted on a short handle. Since iron and steel 

 have become common among them, however, tools made from these 

 metals have superseded to a great extent the more primitive imple- 

 ments. The tools now in use are scrapers, scoring or etching imple- 

 ments, wedges for splitting the material, and narrow pieces of thin iron 

 with serrated edges for use as saws. 



Figure 9, plate xxxvia, is a small saw obtained at Port Clarence by 

 Dr T. II. Bean. The blade is set in a handle in a manner similar to 

 that of a table knife. 



Figure 10 of the same plate is a saw from Gape Prince of Wales, 

 evidently modeled from those in use by white men. It is 11 inches 

 long; the blade is a long, narrow strip of iron with teeth cut in the lower 

 edge; it is riveted into slots in small round pieces of ivory which are 

 fastened into a wooden frame. A wooden rod extends across the 

 middle of the frame into which it is dovetailed; a double cord of raw- 

 hide is stretched across the frame, between the two strands of which 

 a piece of bone is inserted for twisting the cords and thereby tighten- 

 ing the blade of the saw in the frame. 



Another style of saw is made by inserting a narrow piece of iron with 

 a serrated edge in a slot cut in a long piece of ivory, horn, or bone. 

 Sometimes these saws are mere strips of iron with teeth cut in one 

 edge and without either handle or frame. 



Figure G, plate xxxvia, represents a frame for one of these saws from 

 Unalaklit. It is made of reindeer horn and has a i^rojecting spur on its 

 upper side, the same end being bent downward to serve as a handle. 



Figure 7 of this plate is a scoring or etching implement from the 

 Yukon district. The iron point is wedged firmly into a slit in the end 

 of the handle, which has a conical hole on one side, having evidently 

 served as a cap for a drill. 



Figure 8, from Cape Darby, is a handle for one of these tools, made 

 from two pieces of bone with a slot for fitting in an iron point; the two 

 pieces are riveted together by wooden pins, and a rawhide cord is 



