NO.    I  ARCHKOLOGY    OF    ST.    LAWRENCE    ISLAND COLLINS  I7I 
few  being  found  at  the  Hillside  site.  On  the  whole  it  would  seem  that 
whaling,  if  practiced  at  all,  was  only  incidental  with  the  earlier  Old 
Bering  Sea  Eskimos ;  certainly  it  did  not  occupy  the  prominent  place 
it  came  to  have  later. 
The  baleen  objects  described  below  are  all  from  Miyowagh. 
Ice  scoop. — Plate  55,  figure  7,  from  cut  18,  depth  44  inches,  illus- 
trates the  type  of  the  Old  Bering  Sea  ice  scoop,  made  entirely  of  baleen. 
The  rim  and  part  of  the  handle  consist  of  a  single  strip  abuut  2  cm 
wide  bent  around  and  forming  a  triangle  with  rounded  corners.  The 
netting  is  of  smaller  strands  of  baleen,  one  looped  around  the  other, 
the  loops  occurring  at  regular  intervals  and  radiating  in  nine  bands 
from  the  center.  The  netting  is  fastened  to  the  rim  at  1 1  places  and 
is  further  strengthened  by  being  looped  around  a  straight  strip  which 
extends  from  the  apex  to  the  opposite  side.  Four  more  baleen  ice 
scoops  were  found  at  Miyowagh,  two  in  cut  9,  depth  unknown,  one 
in  cut  18,  depth  48  inches,  and  one  in  cut  19,  depth  45  inches. 
Ventilator  r'uii  (  ?). — The  heavy  grass  ring  with  baleen  wrapping 
(pi.  55,  tig.  4 — cut  23,  depth  2^2  in.)  was  thought  by  the  Eskimos  to  be 
a  border  or  rim  for  the  circular  opening  which  serves  to  ventilate  the 
inner  sleeping  room.  In  the  modern  houses  the  opening  is  cut  in  the 
upper  part  of  the  reindeer  skin  which  hangs  as  a  heavy  curtain  and 
forms  the  front  of  the  sleeping  compartment.  A  similar  grass  ring 
was  found  in  cut  10,  40  inches  deep,  and  also  one  made  from  the  epi- 
physis of  a  whale  vertebra,  in  cut  23,  depth  81  inches.  These  grass 
rings  also  resemble  the  hoops  used  by  the  Plains  Indians  in  various 
kinds  of  hoop  and  pole  games  (Culin,  1907,  pp.  458,  483,  495-6). 
Plate  55,  figure  2  (cut  23,  depth  39  in.),  is  a  slender  strip  of  baleen, 
rounded  in  cross-section  and  pointed  and  notched  at  one  end.  Both 
ends  appear  to  have  been  bent  over  and  may  possibly  have  Ijeen  held 
l)y  the  baleen  loop  placed  somewhat  below  the  center.  It  may  have 
been  part  of  a  snare. 
Baleen  knots. — Plate  55,  figure  3,  is  one  of  a  great  number  of 
baleen  knots,  the  exact  use  of  which  is  unknown ;  this  specimen  con- 
sists of  two  connected  knots,  both  formed  of  two  layers  of  square 
plaiting,  the  same  technique  as  shown  by  the  two  smaller  baleen  objects 
in  plate  56,  figures  8,  9. 
Figure  6  is  a  broken  wooden  shaft,  composed  of  two  sections  spliced 
together  and  held  with  a  wrapping  of  baleen. 
Figure  8  is  a  baleen  ring,  from  cut  9,  48  inches  deep,  the  ends  held 
together  with  baleen  wrapping;  small  strands  of  baleen,  attached  to 
the  rim,  mav  have  extended  across. 
