NELSON] DANCES 353 
along the Arctic coast, resonant pieces of wood are regularly, beaten 
to aid the drum accompaniment during dancing. For this purpose a 
short, heavy baton of walrus ivory is generally used. Such an instru- 
ment (figure 138), was obtained at Port Clarence. It is 104 inches in 
length by an inch in diameter, rounded, beveled at each end, and has 
the slight curve of the tusk from which it was made. Fine shavings 
are bound around the butt by a braided sinew cord to afford a grip, and 
a deerhorn peg close to the projecting end of the handle prevents the 
hand from slipping. Extending from near this peg to the other end of 
the grip is a loop of twisted sinew cord which aids in holding the instru- 
ment firmly. On its outer end the mouth, eyes, and blowholes of a 
right whale are represented by incised holes and pits. Between the 
blowholes are inserted some small, downy feathers, held in place by 
wooden pegs, to represent the spouting of the whale. 
In addition to the dances performed during the various festivals and 
described in connection with those ceremonies, various others are prac- 
ticed among the Eskimo with whom I came in contact. These latter 
are generally executed for pastime, and are often merely a series of 
movements supposed to be graceful or pleasing; at other times they 
are distinctly symbolic, frequently carrying out and illustrating a long 
narrative by gestures and sometimes accompanied by a song. Dances 
are usually accompanied by the beating of one or more drums and by 
the singing of the drummers, and sometimes of other males, but at times 
the drummers cease, and the dancing continues to the sound of voices. 
Some of these performances are extremely grotesque, the dancers being 
young men, often quite nude or simply wearing a pair of ornamental 
trunks made of fine deerskin, who sing or utter loud cries and leap 
about, gesticulating with their arms and legs and contorting their bodies 
in every conceivable manner. The object of such dancesis apparently 
to amuse the spectators, and the successful dancers frequently cause 
great laughter among the assembled people by the absurdity of their 
attitudes and movements. The young men exert themselves in friendly 
rivalry at such times until they are forced to cease from sheer exhaustion. 
Both men and women take part in the danees, each having certain 
movements peculiar to himself. The women remain with their feet 
planted squarely on the floor and, swaying the body and slowly gestic- 
wating with hands and arms, go through the figures permitted to them, 
always keeping time to the music. Very commonly the women have a 
long, feather wand in each hand which they wave slowly back and forth 
as they move. During certain religious festivals they also use finger- 
masks—sinall, round, flat pieces of wood with a projection below, through 
which are one or two holes for adinitting the first or the first and second 
fingers; they are carved to represent a human face or a face supposed to 
belong to some animal, an inua, or some supernatural being. They 
are generally painted and sarrounded by a halo-like fringe, formed 
by the upstanding hair on a narrow band of skin, usually of the rein- 
18 ETH 23 
