522 THE CENTRAL ESKIMO. 



these cylindrical rings, from wliicli lines ai'e made by cutting spi- 

 rally, a strip seventy or eighty feet long being thus obtained. This 

 line is stretched as taut as possible between two rocks, and while 

 drying it undergoes an enormous tension. Before being taken from 

 the rocks the edges are rounded and cleaned with a knife. 



Walrus hide is always cut up before being prepared. As soon as 

 the walrus is killed it is cut into as many parts as there are partners 

 in the hunt, every part being rolled up in a piece of skin and carried 

 home in it. Sometimes the skin is used for making boats, hut gen- 

 erally it is cut into lines. . Both kinds of hide, that of the walrus and 

 that of the ground seal, are as stiff as a board when dried and require 

 much work before being fit for use. They ai'e chewed by the natives 

 until they become thin and pliable. The whole skin must be chewed 

 in this way befdi-c it ran be usrd Hjf snlrs and bnat cuvcrs. After- 

 wards it is sera|icd with the Icsirciuu ami suftcncd with tlirstndgiit 

 scraper. The new thongs, after hring dri<.Ml hetwccn the rucks, must 

 also be chewed until they become sufficiently pliable, after which 

 they are straightened by a stretcher that is held with the feet (Fig. 

 409). F.v,|u,.nt]y they are only pull..! ov.t the s,,le of the boot for 

 this pui-pose, the man tal<ini;' liold of the line at t \vo points and pull- 

 ing the intei-mediate part hy turns to th.' right and to the left over 

 the sole of the foot. 



Another kind of line is cut fr(_)m the hide of the white whale, wliich 

 is skinned in the same \vay as the ground seal, but, as it must be 

 slit on the spinal column, the single pieces of line are mr;ch shorter, 

 and they cannot be used to the same extent as seal lines. Some lines 

 are cut from the skins of Piiiiinin/.s fnfidus, but these are weak and 

 greatly inferior to lines of gionml seal hide. 



Deerskins are dried in summer and dressed after the ice has formed. 

 Like all other kinds of skins they are not tanned, but curried. They 

 are hung up among the rafters of the hut, and the workers — in Oqo 

 and Akudnirn the women, in Hudson Bay the men — take oft' their 

 jackets and begin preparing them with the sharp scraper. After 

 being cleaned in this way they are thoroughly dried, either by hang- 

 ing them near the roof oi the hut or, according to Gilder, by wrap- 

 ping them around the u]jper part of the body next to the skin, after 



