390 Tin: roixT harrow esktmo. 



(Iccoration appears to be applied aliiKist solely to the clotliins-, while 

 tools ami utensils aie usually left plain, ami if oinaiiieiit.Ml are only 

 adorned with earvin^ or incised lines.' West of the :\laekenzie Kiver, 

 and espeeiallv south of liciinu Strait, Eskimo decorative art leaches 

 its higliest developnienl. as siiowii by the collections in the National 

 Museum. Not only is everything- linished with the inosi extreme care, 

 hut all wooden objects are gaily painted with various pi^meiifs. and all 

 artielcs of bone and ivory are covered with ornamental <iirvin,us and 

 incised lines forming conventional patterns. 



There are in the collections also many objects that ajipear to have 

 been made simjdyfor the pleasure of exercising the ingenuity in rein-e- 

 senting natural or faiicifui ohject-. and are thus purely works of ai't. 

 Want of sjjace forliids any further discussion of these interesting 

 o])jects. There is in the Museum suliicient material for a large m(um- 

 graph on Eskimo art. As would naturally be expected, art at Point 

 r.arrow occupies a somewhat intermediate position between the highly 

 <lcvcloped art of the southwest and the simple art of the east. 1 have 

 given sutlicient tigures in my description of their clothing and various 

 iniplcnicnts to illustrate the condition of purely decorative art. A few 

 words iiia> lie added by way of r6sum(5. It will be noticed that wheu- 

 e\er the bone or ivory parts of weapons are decorated the ornamenta- 

 tion is usually in the form of incised lines colored with red ocher or 

 soot. These lines rarely represent any natural objects, but generally 

 form rather elegant conventional patterns, most commonly double or 

 single borders, often joined by obliijue cross lines or fringed with short, 

 pointed i)arallel lines. 



A common ornament is the incised "circle and dot," so often referred 

 to in the foregoing descriptions. This is a circle about one-quarter inch 

 in diameter, described as accurately as if done with compasses, wath a 

 deeply inci.sed dot exactly- in the centei'. This ornament is much more 

 common sontli of i'.eiing Strait, where, as Mr. L. M.Turner informs 

 me, it is a conventionaliz.Ml lepresentation of a- flower. S(mie of the 

 older iiii]ilciiieiits ill our collection, oniaiiiented with this tigure, may 

 lia\c liceii olitaiiH'd by trade from the soiifliern natives, but the I'oint 

 I'.arrow peojilc <-ertaiiily know how to make it. as there are a nundier of 

 n.'wlymade articles in tlic collection thus oinameiited. rnfortunately, 

 we saw none of these olijects in the process of manufacture, as they 

 w.Tc made by the natives dniing odd nKuneuts of leisure, and at the 

 lime 1 did not realize the imiiortanee of llndiug out the process. No 

 tool liy u iiicii iliese ligures could be made so accuratelv was ever offered 

 for sal... 



Ncit her .Mr. Turner nor M v. I )all, both of whom, as is well known, spent 

 long periods among the iiati\cs of the Yukon region, evc^r observed 

 till- process ol making this ornament. The latter, however, suggests 

 tiiat It ispeihapsdone with an iinpiox i.sed eenterbit, made by sticking 



'.Si... tin. various :i,,ouiil.s ul ll,,- last.ni Hskiliio already raferredto. 



