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



having Lis hands on the nape of the one in front of him; everyone is 

 completely nude. Two nude boys are jilaced in the middle of the ring- 

 while the men circle four times around the room from left to right (with 

 the sun), the boys, except those in the middle of the ring, climbing upon 

 their backs and chasing each other about. 



As soon as the four circuits of the room have been completed, the 

 men stop and slap each other heartily ujDon the back until each has had 

 enough ; then they stand back from the hole in the middle of the floor 

 and jump over it until some one nearly falls in. Two lines are now let 

 down from the roof; handles are tied to the ends, which are some dis- 

 tance from the floor, and the men grasp tliem, attempting to raise 

 themselves up and perform other trials of strength. This ends the 

 festival, but no work must be done in the village during the next 

 four days. 



At one of these festivals witnessed at St Michael, the ceremonies of 

 the last morning varied from those described. Just before sunrise a 

 small bunch of dried parsnip stalks was lighted and waved about the 

 bladders and also over and inside the waterproof gut-skin shirts worn 

 by the hunters when in their kaiaks at sea, which were brought in for the 

 puri)ose. The headman of the village then stood up and each hunter 

 placed beside himself a small bundle of dried grass. The headman took 

 these, one after the other, and passed them about the bladders belong- 

 ing to their owners, repeating at the same time certain directions to 

 the shades in a low tone of voice. As soon as he had completed this, 

 the hunter to whom the bladders belonged Avould cry out ^'Ai-yaiP^ 

 The straws were then lighted and again passed over the bladders, the 

 charred stumps being returned to the side of their owner, after which 

 the hunters made black paint of wild-parsnip charcoal and oil, with 

 which they striped one another's faces and drew a double cross (f) 

 upon the middle of each one's back and chest. 



Then each hunter took the spear to which his bladders had been 

 fastened and all marched about the hole in the middle of the floor, each 

 making several feints before jiutting his bladders through the hole and 

 taking them outside. At the hole in the ice the bladders were burst 

 by means of a seal-claw ice scratcher, and several strands of seal sinew 

 were tied to each before thrusting it under the ice. 



On December 15, 1879, I reached Kushunuk, near Cape Vancouver, 

 and found the Bladder festival in progress. Hanging from the roof 

 over the middle of the floor was a fantastic bird-shape image, said to 

 represent a sea gull. It had the primary quill feather of a gull stuck 

 in each side of the body to represent the wings. The body was covered 

 with the skin and feathers of the small Canada goose {Branta cana- 

 densis minima). It was fastened to a long, slender, rawhide cord 

 which passed through an eye fastened to one of the roof logs, and 

 thence down to the floor on one side of the room. By pulling and 



