384 THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT (ETH. ANN. 18 
floor at the base of the stake. The walrus skull was then placed close 
to the hole in the floor with a folded straw mat before it; two small 
wooden buckets of water were brought in and placed in front of the 
hole to symbolize the sea, the hole thus representing a seal hole lead- 
ing into the sea through the ice. After this no one was permitted to 
leave the room until the evening ceremonies were completed, as the exit 
hole was the only means of egress and was supposed to be used during 
this time by the shades of the animals, and consequently was tabooed. 
Duving this time it became, figuratively, the entrance to the sea. 
The men and the boys now put on their helmets, and the one who had 
first taken the grass from beside each hunter again took it up and, after 
waving it over his head, scattered it in the ring just inside the place 
where the circle of helmets had been; this was said to represent the 
drift weeds lying on the seashore. 
A young man now seated himself under the spears and bladders and 
another under the large bundle of wild-parsnip stalks, their feet resting 
on the ring of grass. The drums began to beat loudly, and the young 
men around the room imitated the notes of the eider duck. In a short 
time the men and the boys ranged themselves around the room just 
outside the circle made by the grass, the women aud the girls being 
behind them and next to the wall. The headman cbanted a few words 
of a song in time to the beating of the drums, which was taken up as 
a refrain by every one, including men, women, and boys, each party 
repeating it in alternation. During this song one of the young men 
imitated in pantomime the motions of a loon and another those of a 
murre: These men remained seated upon the floor, swaying their heads 
and bodies about in the most singular postures, like those of a bird 
diving and swimming under water, or on the surface, pecking with their 
beaks, ete, after which they made a flapping motion with their hands as 
if rising and flying away, imitating at the same time the cries of the 
birds they were representing. 
A short interval followed, during which a single drummer and singer 
continued the music; then various others of the dancers began similar 
bird movements, and all began drumming and singing as before. The 
new dancers stood about the ring of grass, and one made the motions 
of a beaver at work cutting bushes and building a dam. Another 
gestured his encounter with the enemy and his escape from a hostile 
foree. 
Suddenly one of the singers sprang to his feet and, seizing the two 
wooden buckets of water, vanished through the bole in the floor. At 
the same moment the men and boys ran out to the large bundle of wild- 
parsnip stalks and each put his hunting helmet upon it as quickly as 
possible. Nearly every one left the kashim at this time, and soon a man 
came in who had been stripped to the waist at the outer door. He bore 
a wooden dish of food, which he held high over his head, and eircled 
once around the room as an offering to the shades and tunghat in the 
