NELSON] BLADDER FESTIVAL 383 
releasing this cord, the image could be made to glide up and down. 
Behind this, at the back of the room, was planted a pole about ten feet 
long, to the upper end of which a bundle of wild-parsnip stalks was 
bound like a great brush or besom. The pole was banded along its 
entire length with red and white paint, and fastened on two sides of it, 
near the middle, were two pairs of reindeer-skin strips which hung down 
two or three feet. On the left side of the room, hung horizontally mid- 
way between the floor and ceiling, was a large sheaf of seal and walrus 
spears, their heads partly in one direction and partly in another. 
Attached to these, a bunch being fastened to each spear, were sey- 
eral hundred seal and walrus bladders, all of which were spotted 
and blotched with grayish-white paint; each spear had tied to it the 
bladders belonging to its owner. Hanging about the room, singly or 
in bunches, were a number of reindeer bladders, but none of these were 
hung with those of the seal and the walrus. On the sidé of the room 
opposite the spears and bladders, at an equal height from the floor, 
hung a large bundle of wild-parsnip stalks. All about the room and 
on the sides were arranged various spears used in hunting seals and 
walrus. Under the wild-parsnip stalks and beneath the spears and 
bladders was a pile of thirty or forty wooden hunting helmets of various 
shapes, some of which were ornamented with carved ivory images, 
while others were not thus ornamented; they were painted white or 
brown, with white blotches, and on many of them were depicted female 
phallic symbols. Back of the entrance hole in the floor stood a large 
walrus skull. 
When I entered the room one of my dogs followed, and immediately 
aman seized a drum and began beating it to exorcise the evil influence 
of the dog’s presence until it was hastily expelled. I looked about the 
room and went over to the bladders and felt one to learn the nature of 
the paint with which it was spotted; my movements seemed to startle 
the men very much and all raised a loud outery. I afterward heard 
the same cry raised if any loud noise was accidentally made near these 
objects. When our camping outfit was brought in from the sledges, 
two men took drums, and as the clothing and goods of the traders who 
were with me were brought in, the drums were beaten softly and a song 
. Was Sung in a low, humming tone, but when our guns and some steel 
traps were brought in, with other articles of iron, the drums were beaten 
loudly and the songs raised in proportion. This was done that the 
shades of the animals present in the bladders might not be frightened. 
Early in the evening the boys of the village gathered outside the 
kashim and raised a great outery. An hour later the hunting helmets 
were ranged around the kashim, forming a circle on the floor inclosing 
the walrus skull and the stake. Very soon after this a bundle of straw, 
such as is used for pads in boot soles, was thrown down from the hole 
in the roof; a man took this, and holding it at arm’s length over his 
head while he marched around the ring of helmets, deposited it on the 
