94 THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT [eth.ann. 18 



and a double-eud cord for tying it down. A split in the cover has 

 been neatly mended by means of tliin strips of whalebone passed 

 through holes pierced on opposite sides. A small scalloped rod of 

 ivory forms a handle to the cover, held in place by a loop of rawhide 

 passed through two holes at each end into corresponding holes in the 

 cover and the ends knotted inside. 



Plate XLii, 10, represents a box from Sfugunugumut, oval in shape, 

 rather truncated at the smaller end and beveled toward the center. 

 One end is carried upward in the form of a neck, terminating in a gro- 

 tesque human head, having a prominent nose and an incised crescent- 

 shape mouth with two pieces of white crockery inlaid at the corners to 

 represent labrets; the other end has a pair of seal's flippers, the entire 

 design being intended to represent a mythical being, with the body of 

 a seal and a human head. It is painted in a bluish tint, except the 

 head, which is black, and the incised lines that outline the flippers, 

 which are red. The cover is slightly convex above and concave below, 

 with a broad groove cut in its upper surface; it is hinged by two raw- 

 hide cords, and a double-end cord is fastened in two places on the 

 side and passed twifce around the box and tied to hold the cover in 

 place and to fasten it. 



Another box (number 36242) from Sfugunugumut is similar in outline 

 to the latter, except that it lacks the head, and, like the preceding, the 

 body of the box is fashioned from a single piece of wood. The exterior 

 is painted a dull red and has three grooves extending around it, which 

 are colored black, and set in them at regular intervals are broad-head 

 pegs of ivory, which are ornamented with a circle and dot. The interior 

 of the box is divided into two compartments, unequal in size; the 

 smaller, conical in shape, has been used for storing fragments of red 

 ocher and other substances used as paints. The cover is hinged with 

 rawhide and is fastened by a loop of rawhide which passes over a peg 

 in front of the box. On the top of the cover is painted in black the 

 figure of a curious mythical creature, so conventionalized in outline 

 that it is difficult to identify it. From marks on the inside of the cover 

 it has esvidently been used in cutting tobacco. 



Plate XLir, 4, from Askinuk, is a box, suboval in shape, flattened 

 above and below and truncated at each end, cut from a single piece 

 of wood. The interior is neatly excavated to about an inch in depth, 

 leaving a ledge crossing from side to side about an inch inward from 

 each end. The sides of the box are painted black while the top and the 

 bottom are of a bluish tint. On each of the four surfiices a shallow 

 groove extends from end to end; on the sides they are of equal width, 

 but on the top and the bottom they are narrow in the middle, broad- 

 ening gradually toward each end. These grooves are painted red. The 

 cover is slightly convex without and concave within. On its inner sur- 

 face are painted in red and black a number of rude figures representing 

 two sledges, men, and various beasts, among the most conspicuous of 

 which are wolves and reindeer. 



