42 i'Xl'KIMTlON TO POINT I'.AKKOW, ALASKA. 



who designed it was comined to the few pieces of drift-wood found on the beach and sonic 

 of timber cast ashore from wrecks, the specimen was unique: it consisted of two oblong 'boxes open 

 nt boili cuds loosely atlaclied together endwise \vitli seal thong ; the part representing Hie body was 

 2 feet long, 8 inches .square, and that representing the top 18 indies long and (i indies 

 square, and was suspended by a thong with the lower end two feet from the Moor. On 

 the right and left of the tree hung the skull of a wolf and the dried carcass of a raven ; two of 

 the singers sat flat upon the Moor with their legs extended, one dose behind the other, the foremost 

 one with bis nose just touching the tree. As soon as all were in position the drummers, accom- 

 panied by the women, struck np a doleful chant to which the man at the tree kept time in his sup- 

 plications to (Tuna) the Great Spirit to give them success in pursuit of whales, deer, seal, K:c., and 

 to send white men with plenty of nun and tobacco; and he particularly dwelt upon certain article.-, 

 he knew we had at the station ; at the same time he beat the body of the tree with a wand. As ho 

 completed his schedule of wants the lower edge of the curtain was raised and five natives crawled 

 forth on their hands and knees. They were dressed in the skins of the bear, wolf, lynx, fox, and 

 the dog,t he heads being dressed complete, showing the grinning teeth. On their hands were 

 large mittens of dried seal-skin, with shells and small pieces of copper attached with pieces of 

 thong, so that they swung and rattled as they moved their heads. They crawled slowly forward, 

 swinging their heads in unison, keeping time to the music in hoarse growls, and by shaking their 

 huge mittens until their heads touched the singers by the tree, when they all sprang to their feet 

 with aloud shont, and the performance was brought to a close by all joining in a wild shout accom- 

 panied by spasmodic gestures that seemed to threaten a dislocation of their joints. 



As we came out in the open air we found another party just commencing the outdoor dance, and 

 so they kept it np night and day. Each party as they completed their dance were feasted by friends 

 in different iglus. The invisible spirit (Tufia) peoples the earth, sea, and air; we never could find 

 that they gave it any place of fixed abode ; visible at times, as many of the old men insisted that 

 they had seen him, and described him as resembling the upper part of a man, but very wide, with 

 an extremely large head and long fangs: he is the creator of all things, and also the destroyer, is 

 ever to be feared, especially in the night, and men and women, when ont at such a time, usually 

 carry a largo knife to defend themselves should they meet him. That they believe in ghosts was 

 apparent in the case of a woman who had been doing some work for our party. Coming to the sta- 

 tion one day and being asked to mend a pair of gloves, said she dare not, as there was a dead man 

 in the village, and his body had not yet been carried ont; that he would see her and some evil 

 would befall her. Upon being urged, she first obtained her husband's permission, and then seat- 

 ing herself in the middle of the Moor, she drew a circle around her with a bone snow-knife she car- 

 ried, and remarked that now he could not see her; she was very careful to keep her work all inside 

 the circle, and would not leave it until all was completed. 



They dislike to go ont on a dark night, but if obliged to, they generally carry a bone or ivcry 

 snow -knife or a long bladed steel knife, to keep off Tuna and Kiolya (Aurora), which they believe to 

 be equally evil; but Tuna especially is concerned in producing all the evils of life. Should the 

 whales fail to put in an early appearance, the birds fly high or far out over the pack, the shore 

 lead open late, a gale blow down their caches and break their gear and boats, the old and wise 

 would meet in solemn conclave to devise some means whereby the works of Tuna shall be exorcised 

 and he shall be driven forth from the village. Various means are resorted to; the most common one 

 is for the principal men to meet and (abawa) talk, chanting together in a loud tone, accompanied by 

 beating of drums ; they call for the east wind (nigyn) to blow on the ice (siko) to open it. Indi- 

 vidual wants are by personal supplication, and to them, earth and air arc full of spirits. The one 

 drags men into the earth by the feet, from which they never emerge ; the other strikes men dead, 

 leaving no mark, and the air is full of voices ; often while traveling they would stop and ask mo 

 to listen, and say that Tuna of the wind was passing by. With the return of the sun he is hunted 

 out of each igln by incantations that would daunt the boldest spirit. Afire is built in front of 

 the council-house, and at the entrance to each igln is posted an old woman wise in ghost lore; the 

 men gather around the council-house while the young women and girls drive the spirits ont of the 

 igln with their knives, thrusting them under the bunk and deer skins in a vicious manner, calling 

 upou Tuna to leave the igln ; after the.y think he has been driven out of every nook and comer, 



