NELSON) DRILL-BOWS—KNIVES 85 
Figure 6, from Norton sound, has one end terminating in a figure 
representing the head of some animal and with etched lines and pat- 
terns along two sides. 
Figure 4, from Norton sound, is a curved piece of deer antler, quad- 
rangular in outline and etched on three of its sides. 
Figure 8, from Point Hope, is triangular in cross section, with the 
angles cut into scalloped outlines. 
KNIVES 
For whittling, carving, and finishing all kinds of woodwork the 
Eskimo use what is commonly called a ‘crooked knife,” the curved 
blade of which varies from one to three inches in length, and is made 
usually from hoop iron or some similar scrap, but sometimes a portion 
of a steel knife blade is cut and bent for this purpose. The handle of 
bone, horn, or wood tapers downward to a point, and is from four to 
fifteen inches in length. This knife is the principal tool used in fashion- 
ing and finishing a great variety of boxes, dishes, trays, tubs, spear- 
shafts, bows, arrows, and frames for umiaks, kaiaks, sledges, and other 
woodwork. The wood is first blocked out with an adze, after which it 
is cut into the desired shape, smoothed, and finished by patient labor 
with the knife. It is surprising to notice the dexterity with which this 
tool is used, and the excellent work produced with it. 
One of these knives (plate xxxvii1, 26), from Norton sound, has the 
blade set 1n a groove in the inner edge of the handle near the end, and 
with no other fastening. The handle is wrapped with spruce roots 
just above the blade, in order to give a better grip for the hand. The 
under side of the handle has a conical depression, showing that it has 
been used as a cap for a small drillhead. 
Figure 31 of the same plate, from Nunivak island, is the rudest of 
all the knives of this kind that were obtained. It has a short, thick 
piece of iron wedged into a slot in the handle, while the inner end of the 
blade is held in place by sinew lashing. The lower side of the handle 
has a small conical depression, marking its use as a cap for a drillhead. 
From St Lawrence island were obtained two knives of this descrip- 
tion, made of long, tapering pieces of iron set into wooden handles, but 
in a manner different from the foregoing. One cf these (plate xxx v1, 
27) has the inner end of the blade set in a deep, flat hole in the end of 
the handle, somewhat as the blade is set in an ordinary table knife. 
The handle is oval in cross section, with a slightly enlarged truncated 
end, and is only about four inches in length. Next to the blade is a 
groove, which serves to receive a sinew wrapping. 
Plate XXXVIII, 29, shows a knife of similar shape, but the end of the 
biade is fitted into a gore-shape slot sunk in the side of the handie, into 
which is fitted a thin strip of wood, filling it out so that the outline is 
continuous with the rest of the handle. Over this 1s wrapped a sinew 
cord for holding the blade in place. 
Plate xxxvitl, 30, from Kulwoguwigumut, is a knife with a bone 
