»384 THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT [eth. ann. 18 



floor at the base of the stake. The wah-ns skull was then placed close 

 to the hole in the floor with a folded straw mat before it; two small 

 wooden buckets of water were brought in and placed in front of the 

 hole to symbolize the sea, the hole thus representing a seal hole lead- 

 ing into the sea through the ice. After this no one was permitted to 

 leave the room until the evening ceremonies were completed, as the exit 

 hole was the only means of egress and was supposed to be used during 

 this time by the shades of the animals, and consequently was tabooed. 

 During this time it became, figuratively, the entrance to the sea. 



The men and the boys now put on their helmets, and the one who had 

 first taken the grass from beside each hunter again took it up and, after 

 waving it over his head, scattered it in the ring just inside the place 

 where the circle of helmets had been; this was said to represent the 

 drift weeds lying on the seashore. 



A young man now seated himself under the spears and bladders and 

 another under the large bundle of wild-parsnip stalks, their feet resting 

 on the ring of grass. The drums began to beat loudly, and the young 

 men around the room imitated the notes of the eider duck. In a short 

 time the men and the boys ranged themselves around the room just 

 outside the circle made by the grass, the women and the girls being 

 behind them and next to the wall. The headman chanted a few words 

 of a song in time to the beating of the drums, which was taken up as 

 a refrain by every one, including men, women, and boys, each party 

 repeating it in alternation. During this song one of the young men 

 imitated in pantomime the motions of a loon and another those of a 

 murre. These men remained seated upon the floor, swaying their heads 

 and bodies about in the most singular postures, like those of a bird 

 diving and swimming under water, or on the surface, pecking with their 

 beaks, etc, after which they made a flapping motion with their hands as 

 if rising and flying away, imitating at the same time the cries of the 

 birds they were representing. 



A short interval followed, during which a single drummer and singer 

 continued the music; then various others of the dancers began similar 

 bird movements, and all began drumming and singing as before. The 

 new dancers stood about the ring of grass, and one made the motions 

 of a beaver at work cutting bushes and building a dam. Another 

 gestured his encounter with the enemy and his escape from a hostile 

 force. 



Suddenly one of the singers sprang to his feet and, seizing the two 

 wooden buckets of water, vanished through the hole in the floor. At 

 the same moment the men and boys ran out to the large bundle of wild- 

 parsnip stalks and each put his hunting helmet upon it as quickly as 

 possible. Nearly every one left the kashim at this time, and soon a man 

 came in who had been stripped to the waist at the outer door. He bore 

 a wooden dish of food, which he held high over his head, and circled 

 once around the room as an oflering to the shades and tunghat in the 



