NELSON] MASKS 397 



Figure 1, plate xcv, represents a small, flat, rounded mask, 5f by 4f 

 iucues, from Sabotnisky, ou the lower Yukou. It is shallowly exca- 

 vated, and is pierced for the eyes and mouth; the right eye is hori- 

 zontally oblong, the left is round. The mouth is represented by two 

 flattened, oval openings, inclined toward the center, which is occupied 

 by a rudely carved imitation of an owl's beak, fastened on by means of 

 a square pin fitted into an orifice in the mask. The sides of the face 

 and forehead, with a line descending between the eyes to the beak, are 

 green; an area about each eye and covering the cheeks is white, 

 spotted with red. The beak is not painted, except the red along the 

 grooves marking the gape; the lower sides of the face and the entire 

 chin are black. Three quill feathers tipped with downy plumes are 

 inserted in the forehead. This figure represents the mua of the short- 

 ear owl. 



Figure 3, plate xcv, from the tundra south of the Yukon mouth, is a 

 well-carved mask representing a human face, 7^ inches long by 5^ wide, 

 oval in front and deeply concave behind. The features are well carved 

 and smoothly rounded. About the border are set eight wooden pegs, 

 with the ends split for holding a strip of deerskin with outstanding 

 hair to represent the fur hood worn by the Eskimo in winter. It is one 

 of the most carefully modeled of any mask obtained, and is one of the 

 few which represents a human face without distortion of some kind. 

 The eyes and mouth are pierced, and a large globular labret is rep- 

 resented at each corner of the mouth, fastened in place by a wooden 

 pin. The entire face is painted Indian red, with the goatee, mustache, 

 eyebrows, and upper eyelashes black. 



Extending over the forehead and down each side of the face is a long, 

 black line with ray-like black markings projecting backward from it; 

 on each side of the chin this black line ends in the head and fore-feet 

 of the alligator-like animal known as X)alraiyuli. A disk-like pendant 

 with two concentric circles and a spot in the center is drawn in black 

 on the forehead, and is connected with the body of the palraiyuk, 

 where it crosses the brow, by black cross-lines. 



Plate xcvifl, from Cape Eomanzof, is a very large mask, measuring 

 12 by 22 inches and G inches in depth, carved from a single piece of 

 wood, and is supposed to represent the sea parrot [Lunda cirrhata). 

 The open mouth of the bird covers over half the surface, and the 

 points of the mandibles project free from the face. In the open mouth 

 is represented the supposed features of the bird's inua. The eyes 

 are narrow and are set obliquely above two widely separated, round 

 nostrils and a broad, semilunar mouth with the corners depressed. 

 Around the border of the mouth of the bird, and thus bordering the 

 inclosed face, are small wooden pegs half an inch in length to represent 

 teeth. On the forehead of the mask, near the base and upper portion 

 of the beak, are carved the eyes of the bird. Surrounding the outer 

 border of the mask, and held out from it half to three-quarters of an 



