444 THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT [ETH. ANN. 18 
I-mum! kd-bvi-d-gd, sea fox. This is described as being similar in 
appearance to the red fox, but itis said to live far out at sea and is 
very fierce, often attacking and killing hunters. 
Kiik-whin'-t-ghiat kig-t-lw-ntk, The killer whale (dkh/-lut) is undoubt- 
edly the original of this mythic creature. It is described as being simi- 
lar in form to the killer whale and 
is credited with the power of 
changing at will to a wolf; after 
roaming about over the land it 
may return to the sea and again 
become a whale. While in the 
Fic. Ph Rae animal in a wolf form itis known by the above 
i name, and the Eskimo say they 
know that this change takes place as they have seen wolf tracks lead- 
ing to the edge of the sea ice and ending at the water, or beginning at 
the edge of the water and leading to the shore. This of course results 
from the breaking away of a portion of the ice on which the wolf tracks 
had been. These animals are said to be very fierce and to kill men. 
The same power of changing its form is sometimes credited to the white 
whale, which interchanges form with the reindeer, as shown in the 
drawing, reproduced in figure 154, on the bottom of a wooden tray from 
south of the Yukon mouth. This belief is prevalent among all the 
Eskimo along the shore of Bering sea. 
A strange, crocodile-like animal, known as pdl-rai-yuk, is painted on 
the sides of umiaks and on the inside of wooden dishes (see figures 
155, 156) by natives along lower Yu- 
kon and Kuskokwim rivers. A mask 
(plate xcv, 3) from the tundra south 
of the Yukon mouth has this animal 
drawn down each side of the face. 
According to the traditions of the peo- 
ple in this district the climate in an- 
cient times was very much warmer 
than at present and the winters were 
shorter. In those days the mythic 
animals referred to were abundant in 
the swampy country between the two 
rivers, being more common near the 
Kuskokwim, where the climate was F'6- 55—Drawing of the pdl-rat-yuk in a 
wooden tray (4). 
more temperate than on the Yukon. 
In those days the waterfowl and other birds came back from the 
south in February and the snow melted during that month and the 
water ran into the passages of houses as it does now in April. At 
that time the pél-rat-yik lived in lakes, creeks, and marshes, where it 
killed men and animals for food. Several of the lower Yukon Eskimo 
recounted the killing of the last one by a hunter whose wife the beast 
