vy 



410 THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STKAIT [etii.ann. 18 



outward horizontally and attached to the side of the mask l)y wooden 

 pegs so as to be continuous with the part on the niasli. These wolves 

 are represented as walking toward the center, their heads close to- 

 gether and tails outstretched in opposite directions. Surrounding the 

 masks at a short distance is a small wooden hoop, in which is inserted 

 three feathers tipped with downy plumes, one on each side and one 

 on top. The forehead, a ring around each eye, a line over the nostrils, 

 the mustache, and the chin, with the entire figure of the wolf on the 

 left side, are black, spotted sparsely with white. The other wolf is 

 white, with the end of its tail and feet black, as are its eyes and 

 nostrils. The inside of the wolves' mouths, the mouth of the mask, 

 including the inside of the mandibles and the figure of the walrus, ex- 

 cepting the tusks, are red. The signification of this mask is unknown, 

 but I believe that the black and white wolves bear a symbolic reference 

 to day and night. 



Figure 5, plate ciii, from lower Kuskokwim river, is 7f by 4^ 

 inches. It is a rudely carved, rather fiattened maskette, thin on one 

 side and thicker on the other, with a nearly straiglit outline along 

 one side and rounded on the other three sides. Facing the straight 

 side of the mask the surface is excavated, leaving a raised edge or rim 

 near the other border, and in the depression thus formed is a rounded, 

 saucer-like excavation about two inches in diameter in which are pierced 

 two holes for eyes and a crescentic mouth. Surrounding the boiders of 

 this maskette are two hoops of splint held in position by willow bark 

 lashings. The syjace occupied by the small face is painted a slaty bluish 

 color, and a baud of the same color is drawn along the ridge toward the 

 outer border on the main portion of the maskette; the remainder is 

 white. This maskette represents a half moon and is connected with 

 religious ceremonials held during the winter in that region, but I failed 

 to learn its exact significance. 



Figure 4, plate cm, from lower Kuskokwim river, is 5^ by 3| 

 inches. It is a small, flattened, rudely shaped maskette, representing a 

 grotesque semihumau countenance with two rounded eyes and an oval 

 mouth piercing the front. The nostrils are indicated by two squared 

 depressions. In the mouth three wooden pegs, two above and one 

 below, indicate teeth. The borders of this object are set with small, 

 white feathers and a rawhide cord is attached to its upper edge for 

 the purpose of sustaining it. It is somewhat pear-shape above, con- 

 tracting on the sides at a point between the nostrils and the mouth 

 and then expanding to form the rounded chin. Its significance is not 

 known. 



Figure G, plate cm, is a maskette from the lower Kuskokwim, measur- 

 ing 5 by 1^ inches. It is a rudely quadrangular, fiattened piece of wood, 

 having roughly oval eyes and a crescentic mouth, pierced through. 

 Upon each side of the face are inserted two paddle-shape, slightly curved 

 sticks, expanded toward the ends. From the base of the nose a groove 



