NELSON] SNUFF-BOXES DESCRIBED Zio 
TOBACCO IMPLEMENTS 
SNUFF-BOXES 
The snuff is kept in neatly made boxes, and is used by placing one 
end of a tube (made from the wing-bone of a goose or other water fowl) 
successively in each of the nostrils and inhaling vigorously from the 
snuft-box in which the other end of the tube is placed. 
The boxes used for containing snuff vary greatly in form, many of 
them showing remarkable skill in carving and ingenuity in conception 
of the designs. 
A snuff-box from Kigiktauik (number 33074) is formed of a band of 
bone bent into a circle and riveted at the ends by pieces of iron; this 
serves as a foundation on which is fitted a top and a bottom in the form 
of truncated cones, the top having a round hole in the center, capped 
with a wooden cover. The band of bone has a few circles and dots 
etched on its surface. 
A circular wooden snuff-box from Kaialigamut (figure 20, plate 
LXXXVI) is slightly narrower at the top and is beveled inward from 
the rim both above and below to the convex top and bottom; the 
cover has a projecting arm, extending slightly beyond the edge of the 
box, by which it can be raised. In both top and bottom are set five 
small ivory pegs with broad heads. The box is painted black, except 
the beveled edge of the rim above and below and the lever-like handle 
on the cover, which are red. Another specimen, brought from Norton 
sound, is shaped similarly to the preceding, but has four grooves around 
the outside, forming bead-like ridges, the upper and lower ones being 
the largest. : 
The snuff-box from Anogogmut (figure 21, plate LXxxXxvr) is somewhat 
similar to the above-described specimen from Kigiktauik, but the top 
and the bottom are carved in relief to represent a human face surrounded 
by a beveled ridge; two beads are inlaid to represent labrets, and the 
mouth and the eyes are indicated by inlaid pieces of ivory. A series of 
beads is set in a groove around the middle of the box, which is painted 
red. 
An oval wooden box from Kushunuk (figure 11, plate LXxxvr) forms 
a sharp angle at each end; the top and bottom are slightly convex. 
The sides are painted with alternate stripes of black and red; on the 
top the red 1s replaced by dull blue, the bottom also being of that 
color. A loop of sealskin cord three and a half inches long forms a 
handle on the cover. 
Another oval box, obtained at St Michael (figure 6, plate LXxXxxvr) 
has the sides made of leather covered with black whalebone, the ends 
of which are notched and interlocked. The top and bottom are of wood 
neatly fitted. To the center of the top is fastened a stout rawhide cord 
about three inches long, which has attached to its end a small tube for 
inhaling snuff. 
18 ETH——18 
