INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 209 



This kind of dance is held only at intervals, being obserxed after 

 one of the ' ' doctors " has learned the pleasure of God with respect to 

 it. After it has been held annually for five times, it is discontinued 

 for at least five years. 



xL nevj dance {given hy Iintirrugun).—A. dance which appears to have 

 been a new one and to which no name was given was held during four 

 daj's hj one of the more progressive natives. In front of the house 

 two spears were tied to an upright planted in the snow, and one spear 

 to a second upright, while two walking sticks were also placed ^erti- 

 cally in the snow opposite the door. The outside posts were four in 

 number, between the tops of which walrus ropes were stretched. 

 Inside of the house a number of rain coats were hung on seal ropes and 

 fish lines. There were also inflated seal skin '"pokes." Around a seal- 

 oil lamp, near the center pole, were placed five benches with high, thin 

 legs, upon which Inuirrugun, his family, and some intimate friends sat 

 and l)eat drums and chanted. On a high but very narrow bench were 

 placed small wooden efiigies of Imurrugun and his wife, while two other 

 similar benches supported effigies of his relatives and friends. There 

 was a miniature wooden house, which possibl}" represented the old-style 

 dwelling. I could not definitely learn its significance. On the first 

 day Imurrugun, together with his male relatives and friends, having 

 on rain coats and water boots, went to the shore, where they remained 

 a short time. On the second day the men participated in a dance which 

 somewhat resembled jumping. Trading followed. The third da}'^ was 

 given over wholly to trading. On the fourth and last day the men 

 indulged in a 3-mile run, after which they were treated to a feast by the 

 women of Imurrugun's household. 



'"''Autughuk^^ — Worf^hljj of the Moon God. — Early in the morning one 

 day in spring, when the hunting season was drawing near, Akulk}^, 

 together with the male inembers of his household and a few other 

 male relatives and friends, placed his canoe on the shore ice, with the 

 T)0W protruding over the water. They entered the canoe, Akulky 

 occupying the seat in the stern, while his son sat in the bow. Taking 

 their paddles, they fanned the air with them in a mimic ceremony rep- 

 resenting a hunt. A darting gun was held partly in the water. When 

 the sun appeared above the mountain all left the canoe and Akulky 

 made a sacrifice to the ''Moon God," in the hope that favorable weather 

 would be granted during the coming hunting season. I am at a loss 

 to understand the connection between the appearance of the sun and 

 this sacrifice to the "Moon God." The sacrifice consisted of small 

 pieces of tobacco secured in trade the previous year from the first 

 trader that season, and also of some pieces of bal)y walrus caught 

 during the previous year and dried and reserved especially for this 

 sacrifice. Akulky threw the tobacco and the walrus meat into the air 

 and also into the water. Thc^i followed a feast of dried salmon, walrus 

 S. Doc. 245 14 



