436 



THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT 



[ETH. ANN. 18 



Images aud masks are used by the people of Point Barrow to bring 

 success ill wbale bunting. In an umiak at that place I found two masks 

 of buman faces mounted on tbe middle of slightly crescentic boards, 

 to each of which was tied by a sinew cord a small wooden model of a 

 right wbale. After considerable effort one of the shields and masks 

 were secured, but the owners absolutely refused to sell the others or 

 any of the little whales, which were well carved and about three inches 

 long. The men said they were used in whale hunting and they did not 

 dare to sell them as, if they did, they would bring them bad luck. 



Small carved images of fabulous animals are sometimes carried for 

 the same purpose. In Kotzebue sound a young Malemut white- whale 

 hunter came off to the Corwin one day and I found hanging from the 

 framework inside his kaiak, just behind the manhole, a curious wooden 

 image about eight inches long and three inches in diameter. It was 



Fig. 150— Fetich from a Malemut kaiak (J). 



shaped as shown in figure 150. The semihuman face, with holes incised 

 for the eyes and nose, and the deeply cut mouth bordered by teeth, had 

 two large, projecting tusks, which with the teeth were made of walrus 

 ivory. Extending lengthwise along the abdomen was a long, deep slit 

 like a mouth, with a row of peg-like ivory teeth along its edges. Held 

 by the teeth in this mouth was the rudely carved wooden figure of a 

 white whale. I tried to buy the image, but the owner seemed to be 

 alarmed when he found that I had discovered it, and said he would die 

 if he parted with it; thereupon I handed the image back to him and 

 he quickly went ashore and hid it, after which he returned to the vessel. 

 The images and fetiches used in hunting are sui)posed to watch for 

 game and, by some clairvoyant power, to see it at a great distance; the 

 hunter is then guided by the influence of the fetich to find it. They 

 are also supposed to guide the spears so that they will be cast straight. 



