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



The singing continued in mournful tones for some time. When lb 

 ended a man on one side of the room made a whining cry, which was 

 answered by another feast giver from the o])posite side; at this signal 

 all of them arose, the men ranging themselves along the sides of the 

 room while the women filed back and stood behind the drummers, all 

 facing toward the center. The women wore fillets of various kinds and 

 held a feather wand upright in each hand. Then the song of invitation 

 to the shades was repeated by both feast makers and drummers. 



Suddenly the time of the drum beats was changed from slow to fast, 

 and two women just behind the drummers stepped forward close to them 

 and began a pantomime dance in imitation of walking; the hands were 

 used for these motions and moved alternately back and forth, the wands 

 being held nearly upright and parallel; at the same time they kept up 

 a slight swaying motion of the body, bending the kn«es slightly in time 

 to the drums. The other women feast givers stood in their places, and 

 some of them went through the same dance, while others performed 

 various other movements, among which was a pantomime of tying up 

 packages and packing away articles of various kinds by putting them 

 in a pile, then encircling them with a cord and tying it, shown by moving 

 the right hand from right to left over the left arm, all done in perfect 

 time to the music. 



Then two men stepped forward, one on each side, one of whom began 

 to imitate the motion of a man's feet walking on snowshoes by the 

 outstret(;hed hands held palm downward and moved alternately back 

 and forth, at the same time stamping heavily with his right foot; the 

 other imitated a bear walking and stopping every now and then, as 

 though raising itself up on its hind feet and staring about. After 

 standing in this way for a few moments with his arms bowed in front 

 of him in an absurdly realistic position, he would again begin stamp- 

 ing heavily on the floor, giving his body a rolling motion, while he 

 moved his hands and arms in imitation of a bear's gait. This was 

 done remarkably well, and great laughter was created, this being the 

 object of the dancer. 



Other men among the feast givers then took part in the dance, each 

 pantomiming some occupation of daily life. The most striking of these 

 was an imitation by one of traveling a long distance on snowshoes and 

 winding in and out among the hills. Tlie hands of the i^erformer were 

 in front of him, palms downward, and he moved back and forth with a 

 walking motion, inclining obliquely one way and the other to indicate 

 the slopes of the hills. Then he stopped and appeared to seize and 

 strike something. I could not understand this, but the Eskimo next 

 to me said the man was killing an otter in the snow. Another man 

 Imitated making a hole in the ice with his ice chisel, another paddling 

 a kaiak, and so various other pantomimes were executed, every motion 

 being made in time to the drum. 



After a time the drummers ceased and rapped sharply on their stools 



