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



were fitted. The handle has a groove around it for the sinew cord that 

 served to hold the claws in place. 



Figure 6, plate lii, from St Lawrence island, is a small scratcher 

 with a wooden handle, and with three large claws upon the tip, which 

 are held in position in the usual manner by sinew cords. 



Figure 11, plate lii, from I^orton sound, is a wooden-handle scratcher 

 with three claws fastened in position by fine sinew cords i^assed through 

 a hole in the handle. The upper end of the handle is bound with sinew 

 cords to afford a firm grip, and a loop of similar cord is fastened to the 

 butt for suspending the implement from the wrist. 



Figure 10, plate lii, from Cape Prince of Wales, Is a handsomely 

 made scratcher with a long wooden handle, having three claws on the 

 lower end, attached in the usual manner. The handle is carved on 

 both sides, above and below, and terminates in the image of a white 

 bear's head, having blue beads inlaid for eyes. 



Figure 4, plate lii, from St Michael, is a rather rudely made scratcher, 

 with a wooden handle having four claws at the tip, held in position by 

 a strip of rawhide pierced with four holes and drawn over the claws, 

 with a fiap extending back on the handle and bouud by a cord lashing. 



Another method of approaching seals on the ice is by the hunter 

 covering a light framework with white sheeting and placing it upon a 

 kaiak sled in such a way as to conceal himself and the sled, which he 

 pushes cautiously before him until he is within range and shoots the 

 seal with a rifle. Should he not be provided with a rifle, he uses a 

 spear, but approaches near enough to be sure of the cast and then 

 fixes the barb firmly in the animal's body. 



After having killed a seal at sea the hunter is sometimes able, if the 

 seal be small, to drag it upon the kaiak and thrust it inside; but if it 

 be large this is impossible, and he is compelled to tow it to the shore or 

 to the nearest ice, where it can be cut up and stowed in the interior of 

 the kaiak. The towline is made fast to the animal by cutting slits in 

 the skin through which cords are i^assed, or the flippers are tied 

 together by cords and drawn against the body and a cord passed 

 through a slit in the upper lip and the head drawn down on the breast. 

 In order to pass the cord between the slits in the skin without diffi- 

 culty, small, slender bone or ivory probes are sometimes used, having a 

 notch at the upper end and a groove along both sides. The cord is 

 looped and placed over the notched end; the hunter holds the two ends 

 in his hands and passes the doubled cord through from one slit in the 

 skin to another. 



Figure 12, plate lii, represents an implement of this kind obtained 

 on Kotzebue sound. It is of deerhorn, with a wooden handle fastened 

 on by sinew cords and heavily grooved on four sides to enable the 

 holder to secure a firm grip. 



During the winter and late in the fall seals are usually fat enough 

 to float when killed in the water, but in spring, and sometimes at 



