396 THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT (ETH. ANN. 18 
between Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers become so sophisticated by con- 
tact with white men that mask festivals fall into disuse, it will be but 
a short time until all the wealth of mythological fancy connected with 
them will become a sealed book. 
Among the very large number of these objects obtained some of the 
more interesting have been chosen for description and illustration, giv- 
ing with each, so far as possible, its significance. Their wonderful vari- 
ety and complexity of ornamentation, which is symbolical throughout, 
evinces a lively fancy in the makers. 
Figure 2, plate xcv, shows a long, flat, pear-shape mask from Sabot- 
nisky on the lower Yukon, excavated behind and rather conyex in front; 
it measures 6 by 9 inches, and represents the features of a black bear. 
On one side, covering the area of the right eye and cheek, is a round, 
human face overhung by five tufts of human hair, which represents the 
inua of the bear. The main surface of this mask is painted white, 
bordered by red, the muzzle of the bear and border of the human face 
being of the same color; the remainder of the face is black. From the 
left corner of the mouth depends a small, red, wooden appendage repre- 
senting the lower half of the tongue, which is attached to the interior 
of the mouth by a small willow splint or peg so that it can move freely. 
About the sides and upper border of the mask are nine holes where 
large feathers were inserted upright. 
Another mask from the same locality, and very much like the pre- 
ceding, represents a red bear and has a human face on the right side, 
painted red; the ears are indicated by small, paddle-shape, flattened 
sticks lashed to split quills, which are fastened to the sides of the mask 
by wooden plugs. It is 54 inches broad by 8 inches long. 
The collection contains another mask of the same character repre- 
senting ared bear, but it is a little larger than either of those described. 
It is from Starikwikhpak, on the lower Yukon. 
The mask shown in figure 4, plate xcv, is from Cape Vancouver. It 
is an oval representation of a semihuman face, a little over 8 inches 
high by 53 wide, rounded in front and slightly excavated behind. This 
is a grotesque mask, portraying the features of a tunghdk. The right eye 
is prominent and rounded to the same size and shape as the mouth; the 
left eye is a crescentic opening about two inches long with the corners 
turned down and near the upper border of an oval, flattened area on 
the face. Just above the mouth on the inside is fastened, by means 
of a peg, a tuft of long reindeer hair, which extends down and out of 
the mouth and hangs over the chin; there are no nostrils. <A large 
feather tipped with small, downy plumes extends out from each side 
of the forehead, and another from the top. The border of this mask 
has a narrow, red band around the top and sides, ending opposite the 
mouth; the flattened space extending from the crescent-shape eye 
downward on the cheek is red, coarsely spotted with white; the remain- 
der of the face is white. 
