130 THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT (ETH. ANN. 18 
were fitted. The handle has a groove around it for the sinew cord that 
served to hold the claws in place. 
Figure 6, plate Lu, from St Lawrence island, is a small secratcher 
with a wooden handle, and with three large claws upon the tip, which 
are held in position in the usual manner by sinew cords. 
Figure 11, plate L11, from Norton sound, is a wooden-handle scratcher 
with three claws fastened in position by fine sinew cords passed through 
a hole in the handle. The upper end of the handle is bound with sinew 
cords to afford a firm grip, and a loop of similar cord is fastened to the 
butt for suspending the implement from the wrist. 
Figure 10, plate Lu, from Cape Prince of Wales, is a handsomely 
made seratcher with a long wooden handle, having three claws on the 
lower end, attached in the usual manner. The handle is carved on 
both sides, above and below, and terminates in the image of a white 
bear’s head, having blue beads inlaid for eyes. 
Figure 4, plate Lu, from St Michael, is arather rudely made scratcher, 
with a wooden handle having four claws at the tip, held in position by 
a strip of rawhide pierced with four holes and drawn over the claws, 
with a flap extending back on the handle and bound by a cord lashing. 
Another method of approaching seals'on the ice is by the hunter 
covering a light framework with white sheeting and placing it upon a 
kaiak sled in such a way as to conceal himself and the sled, which he 
pushes cautiously before him until he is within range and shoots the 
seal with a rifle. Should he not be provided with a rifle, he uses a 
spear, but approaches near enough to be sure of the cast and then 
fixes the barb firmly in the animal’s body. 
After having killed a seal at sea the hunter is sometimes able, if the 
seal be small, to drag it upon the kaiak and thrust it inside; but if it 
be large this is impossible, and he is compelled to tow it to the shore or 
to the nearest ice, where it can be cut up and stowed in the interior of 
the kaiak. The towline is made fast to the animal by cutting slits in 
the skin through which cords are passed, or the flippers are tied 
together by cords and drawn against the body and a cord passed 
through a slit in the upper lip and the head drawn down on the breast. 
In order to pass the cord between the slits in the skin without diffi- 
culty, small, slender bone or ivory probes are sometimes used, having a 
notch at the upper end and a groove along both sides. The cord is 
looped and placed over the notched end; the hunter holds the two ends 
in his hands and passes the doubled cord through from one slit in the 
skin to another, 
Figure 12, plate Li, represents an implement of this kind obtained 
on Kotzebue sound. It is of deerhorn, with a wooden handle fastened 
on by sinew cords and heavily grooved on four sides to enable the 
holder to secure a firm grip. 
During the winter and late in the fall seals are usually fat enough 
to float when killed in the water, but in spring, and sometimes at 
