NELSON] TOTEM MARKS WARS 327 



Dear the end on each side is au incised crescentic mark with a pointed 

 groove below, said to represent the mouth and barbel of a loach. At the 

 base of each bear claw is inserted a tuft of white seal bristles, with an- 

 other tuft on the edge close by and one on the tip of the barbel of the 

 loach. About one-third of the distance from the front are crosslines rep- 

 resenting a fish net stretched across the board. The edge of the board, 

 including the broad groove, bear-claw incisions, and loach mouth, is 

 painted red; the net is of dull bluish color. All of these marks have 

 totemic meanings which I did not have an opportunity to determine. 



Figure 119 illustrates the figures painted on a grave box at Stari- 

 kwikhpak, which indicates that the father of the deceased was a noted 

 reindeer hunter. 



WARS 



Previous to the arrival of the Eussians on the Alaskan shore of 

 Bering sea the Eskimo waged an almost constant intertribal warfare; 

 at the same time, along the line of contact with the Tinne tribes of the 

 interior, a bitter feud was always in existence. The people of the coast 

 from the Yukon mouth to Kotzebue sound have many tales of villages 

 destroyed by war parties of Tinne. Back from the head of Norton 

 bay and Kotzebue sound, during the time of my residence in that 

 region, several Tinne were killed by Malemut while hunting reindeer 

 on the strip of uninhabited tundra lying between the districts occupied 

 by the two peoples. During the summer of 1879 a party of three Male- 

 mut from the head of Kotzebue sound ambushed and killed seven 

 Tinne who were found hunting reindeer in the interior. 



As related by various Eskimo questioned by me, it appeared that a 

 favorite mode of carrying on their ancient warfare was to lie in ambush 

 near a village until night and then to creep up and close the passage- 

 way to the kashim, thus confining the men within, and afterward 

 shooting them with arrows through the smoke hole in the roof. Some- 

 times the women were put to death, at other times they were taken 

 home by the victors; but tbe men and the boys were always killed. 



In those days villages were built on high points, where defense was 

 more easily made against an attacking party and from which a lookout 

 was kept almost constantly. When the warriors of one of the Unalit 

 villages wished to make up a party to attack an enemy, a song of invi- 

 tation was made and a messenger sent to sing it in the kashims at 

 other friendly villages; meanwhile the men of the village originating 

 the plot set to work in the kashim and made supplies of new bows and 

 arrows and prepared other weapons while waiting for their friends. The 

 people invited would join the men from the first village and all would 

 set out stealthily to surprise the enemy during the night. If they failed 

 in this an open battle ensued, unless the attacking i)arty became dis- 

 couraged and returned home. Near St Michael there were shown me 

 some of the old lookout places where the watchmen were stationed to 



.J(0-^\^ 



