128 THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT [eth ann. 18 



Figure 25, plate lii, is a rudely oval, wooden net float, pierced on 

 one side. It is from Icy cape. 



Figure 24, plate lit, from St Lawrence island, is a Avooden net float, 

 somewhat rounded in outline, with an ear on one side, which is pierced 

 with a hole for the attachment of the line. 



Figure 14, plate lit, from St Michael, are specimens, made from wal- 

 rus ribs, of a class of implements which serve a double jiurpose; they 

 are used as sinkers and as handles for hauling in the seal or beluga 

 nets. 



Figure 20, plate lii, from one of the Diomede islands, is an elongated 

 oval sinker for a seal net, made of walrus ivory ; it is surrounded with 

 etched bands of zigzag pattern. 



About the end of February the Eskimo from Bering strait southward 

 begin to hunt seals at the outer edge of the shore ice, where the leads 

 are open at that season. On the 28th of February, 1880, 1 met a party 

 of peoiile on their way from the head of Norton bay to Cape Darby, 

 where they were going to hunt seals on the ice until spring opened. 



At midnight on March 28, the same season, I reached a village on 

 the northern shore of Norton sound as a i^arty of seal hunters came 

 in from the outer edge of the ice, bringing several fine, large hair seals. 

 The entire village was up awaiting their return, and we were cordially 

 welcomed to the ensuing feast, which lasted until well into the morning. 

 The entrails and other parts of the viscera were cooked and passed 

 around as special delicacies, while the people of the village who had 

 come to share in the feast assisted in dressing the animals. 



At this season, also, the people about St Michael begin their usual 

 spring hunting upon the ice. They leave their village, hauling their 

 kaiaks, spears, guns, and other implements on small, light sledges made 

 specially for the i)urpose. Whenever open water is to be crossed the 

 kaiak is launched, the sled placed upon it, and the hunter paddles to 

 the opposite side, where he resumes his journey upon the ice. The 

 method of obtaining seals at this time is by the hunter concealing him- 

 self on the ice close to the water, and from this point of vantage shoot- 

 ing or spearing them as they swim along the edge. Sometimes a seal 

 is shot or speared while lying asleep on the ice. 



When the ice breaks up, so that there is much open water, with 

 scattered floes and cakes of varying size, the hunters make long hunts 

 in their kaial^s, searching for places where the seals have hauled up 

 onto the ice. 



On the 10th of May, one season, I met a party of Eskimo between 

 Pastolik, near the Yukon mouth, and St Michael. They had umiaks of 

 ordinary size on sleds, drawn by dogs, and were going with their families 

 to the outer edge of St Michael island to hunt seals, planning to return 

 to the Yukon mouth in the umiaks when the ice had left the coast. 



During the early spring months the small hair seals come up through 

 holes in the ice to be delivered of their young. These holes are 



