342 



THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT 



I ETH. ANN. 18 



again, thus giving a pecking motion and imitating the movements of 

 feeding. Various toys of this character are made by the Eskimo to 

 represent familiar animals or birds. 



Fio. 124 — Toy mouse (about I). 



Fig. 125 — Toy representing a murre swim- 

 miug (full size). 



Figure 124 rei)resents a toy obtained at the village of Sabotnisky, on 

 the lower Yukon. It is a slender, Hat rod a little over an inch wide 

 and about 10 inches long, perforated with six round holes at equal 



intervals along its length, through 

 which is passed in and out a sinew 

 cord, having its ends fastened to the 

 extremities of a small, narrow strip of 

 fur, forming an endless loop. Grasp- 

 ing the rod by the handle at one end, 

 the child draws on the free i)art of the 

 cord, causing the strip of fur to run in 

 and out of the holes along the surface, 

 thus representing a mouse. 

 The children also have small figures of birds, seals, and other ani- 

 mals, which their fathers carve in ivory, bone, and wood. Along the 

 seacoast ivory is the material ordinarily used for making these objects, 

 but among the Eskimo of the tundras, or along the 

 rivers of the interior, bone or deerhorn is more com- 

 monly employed. The bird images usually represent 

 geese, murres, or other waterfowl, and are made flat 

 upon the lower surface, so that they sit upright. 

 On St Lawrence island, and at various other points 

 which were visited, many of these objects were ob- 

 tained, of which the toy bird shown in figure 125 is 

 an example. They are similar in character to the 

 images with which a sort of game is played among 

 the eastern Eskimo. 



In addition to the foregoing objects, dolls made for 

 girls'are among the most interesting of the children's 

 toys. On St Lawrence island two were obtained; 

 these are shown in figure 7, plate xciii, made rudely 

 of wood, and figure 8, plate xciii, wbich is of ivory. 

 The makers of these displayed very little skill or 

 artistic ability, as might be expected from their general lack of culture 

 in this direction compared with the people of the adjacent American 

 coast. Along the Alaskan shore wherever I went, as well as along 



Fig. 126— Clay doll(i). 



