MURDOCH.) 



-KILLERS. 



often have the ears, vuuts 

 mouth inci.sed and Itlackci 

 wood are inhud for the eyi 

 use among Eskimo gener; 



lie whi.skers, nostrils, and ou 



tinplenients ol' tliis .sort are 

 wherever tliey arc so situat 

 )llection con 



able to engage in seal-hunting. Mr. Nelson' 

 mens from as far south as Cape Darby. 



Whalehiini' icolt'-l-iUeis (i.vhni). — Before the introduction 

 trajis. which they now obtain by trade, these people used a i 

 trivanee for catching the wolf. This consists uf a stout ro( 

 bone about 1 foot long and one-half inch broad, with a sha 

 each end. One of these was folded lenutliwise in the ( 

 wrapped in blubber (whale's blubber was used, according to 

 ant, Nikawaalu), and frozen solid. It was tlien thrown out ^ 

 where the wolf «-ould tind and swallow it. The heat of the an 

 would thaw out the blubber, releasing the whalebone, w 

 straighten out and pierce the walls of the stoniaeli. thus ( 



It go f;i 



iftcr 



animal's death. Nikawiialu says that a wolf wouhl 

 swallowing one of the.se blabber balls. 



We collected four sets of these contrivances, one set containing seven 

 rods and the others four caili. b'ig. -'>>^ii gixcs a good idea of the shape 

 of one of these. It belongs to a set of seven. Xo. S9.").3S fl229|. Fig. 2.5Sft, 

 from TTtkiavwin. wliich are old and show tlit^ marks of having been 

 (h)ubled u|(. It is ll'i inches long, 0.4 broad, and O.li thick. The 

 little notches on the o])|)osite edges of each end were probably to 

 hold a lasliiug of sinew which kept the folded rod in shape while the 

 bhddier was freezing, being cat by thrusting a, knife thi-ough the i)ar- 

 tially frozen blubber, as is stated by Schwatka.- Two of the sets are 

 new. but made like theutiieis. 



This contrivance is also used by the Kskiino of Hudson Bay' and at 

 Norton Sound, where, according to retrotf.^ the rods are 2 feet long and 

 wrapped in seal blubber. Tlie name isi'bru appears to be the same as 

 the (Ireeiilandic (isa\'ssok), found only in th(^ diiuinutive isavssoraK, a 

 provintiial name for the somewhat similar sharp-pointed stick baited 

 with blubber and used for catching gulls. The diminutive form of this 



'U i.i twisted into 'u compact lu-lic:U ma.- 

 Schwatlsa. "Nimrod in tlm North." p. 133. See ; 



"■'Nimrod in tlic Nortli." p. i:i3. 



"See Gilder, Schwatlia's Search, p. l'-,".: si-.^ also, KJutscliali, "Als Eslsij 

 ■whalebones are .said ti> liav.- little knives on the ends. 



•Heport, etc., p. 1U7. 



