LONELY NORTHERN WASTES. 423 



" I had an opportunity of observing the natives preparing for 

 a great festival called by them 'drowning little bladders in the 

 sea.' In the front j^art of the kashga, on a stri]3 of moose or other 

 sliin, there were suspended about a hundred bladders taken from 

 animals killed by arrows only. On these bladders are painted vari- 

 ous fantastic figures. At one end of the traj) hangs an owl with a 

 man's head and a gull carved from wood ; at the other end are two 

 partridges. By means of threads running to the crop-beam these 

 images are made to move in imitation of life. Below the bladders 

 is placed a stick six feet in height, bound about with straw. After 

 dancing in front of the bladders a native takes from the stick a small 

 wisj) of straw, and lighting it, j^asses it under the bladders and birds 

 so that the smoke rises around them. He then takes the stick and 

 straw outside. This custom of ' drowning little bladders in the sea ' 

 is in honor of the sea-spirit called ' Ug-iak ; ' but I cannot discover," 

 says Lieutenant Zagoskin, " how the custom originated, or why they 

 use bladders from animals killed by arrows in preference to those 

 killed by other means. To all questions upon the subject the na- 

 tives answered : ' It is a custom which we took from our fathers and 

 our grandfathers.' It seems to be of great antiquity, as the natives 

 can give no information as to its origin or the reasons for its adop- 

 tion. * Before these bladders they dance all day in their holiday 

 dress, which consists of light parka, warm boots, and short i;nder- 

 dress for the men ; and parkas, reindeer-trousers, colored in Innuit 

 style, for women, and ornamented with glass beads and rings." 



And again, in this connection, the pleasures of a dog-sled jour- 

 ney overland to the Yukon are gi-aphically narrated by the same 

 traveller, who resumed his trij), after spending the night as above 

 related, on snow-shoes and dog-sleds laden with his provisions and 

 instruments. On the morning of December 9, 1842, he struck the 

 Oonalakleet River and started up its frozen channel. He says : 



" The weather was at first favorable, but it soon changed, anc^ a 

 driving snow-storm set in, blinding our eyes so that we could 

 not distinguish the jDath. A blade of grass seventy feet distant had 

 the appearance of a shrub, and sloping valleys looked like lakes 

 with high banks, the illusion vanishing upon nearer approach. 



" It is the same reply that is honestly given to any query made as to the 

 reason of almost every one of these Innuit mummeries. Too many attempts 

 have been made to attach serious meaniuer to such idle ceremonies. 



