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



Figure 4, plate xcix, from Sabotnisky, is 8^ inclies long by 6J inches 

 wide. It is a flattened, rounded mask, slightly excavated behind, with 

 a fantastic human face on the front. The nose is very short, leaving 

 the upper lips and cheek in one broad plane; the mouth is wide and 

 crescentic, with upturned corners. Surrounding the forehead from the 

 ears on either side is a band of deerskin with the hair upstanding. 

 Upon either cheek and from the middle of the forehead extend short 

 pieces of whalebone, having attached to their outer ends slender, 

 wooden, pencil-like appendages about five inches long, which move 

 with the motions of the dancer. Strung along the forehead above the 

 brows are small strips of parchment which are held in place by pegs 

 inserted in the wood and hang down over the eyes. The entire face 

 is painted green and spotted coarsely with dull brown pigment; the 

 sticks on the ends of the whalebone are red. Like preceding masks 

 this represents the face of a timghdl-. 



Figure 1, plate xcix, is a thin, flattened mask, measuring 8 by 5J 

 inches, somewhat quadrate but rounded at the corners. The mouth is 

 crescentic, with the corners turned down, and two round eyeholes 

 pierce the front. Just above the mouth is set a carved attachment 

 representing the top of the head and uj^per mandible of a bird. A 

 wooden peg inserted below the mouth indicates the lower mandible. 

 Upon each side of the face is attached a long, narrow, flat strip, evi- 

 dently intended to indicate the doors, which open and close on similar 

 masks made in this district. Two crescentic incisions curving over the 

 eyes represent eyebrows and are colored red. Surrounding the borders 

 of the mask on each side and above are inserted feathers of the horned 

 owl. The main color of the face, as well as the inside of the flaps upon 

 each side is white. The bird's eyes and beak are black, as are also a 

 line across the eyebrows and cheeks, as well as the figures of the seal, 

 walrus, killer whale, reindeer, wolf, and beaver, which are drawn upon 

 the surface of the flaps on each side. This face represents the inua. of 

 some species of waterfowl, the name of which I did not learn; but from 

 the drawings of the various game animals upon the flaps attached to 

 the sides, I judge that it was used in festivals connected with obtaining 

 success in the hunt, which I learned to be the case with similar masks 

 in that region. 



Figure 4, i)late 0, is a rudely carved figure of the sea parrot {Mormon 

 arctica), 7^ inches long by 4^ wide. This represents the upper half of 

 the bird's body as it would appear when swimming on the water. The 

 head and neck are made of a separate piece joined to the body by a 

 round pin. In the upturned beak is the wooden figure of a walrus, the 

 neck of which is made of cloth so as to form a loose joint and i^ermit the 

 head to flap about as the wearer of the mask dances. The mask is 

 surrounded by two successive hoops of splints held in place by being 

 lashed to pegs fastened in holes about the edges. Just in front of these 

 pegs is attached a narrow strip of reindeer skin from which long hairs 



