274 THE POINT BARROW ESKIMO. 
dle beats a drum and sings a monotonous chant, interrupted by curious 
vibrating cries, accompanied with a violent shaking of the head from 
side to side. This ceremony is conducted with great solemnity, and 
the natives seemed disinclined to have us witness it, so that we learned 
very little about it. They, however, told us that the chant was ad- 
dressed to a tuana or spirit, requesting him to make the desired wind 
blow.! It does not appear to be necessary that the man who delivers 
the invocation should be a regular magician or ‘‘ doctor.” A sueces- 
sion of unsuccessful attempts were made in 1882, some of them by men 
who never to our knowledge practiced incantations on other occasions. 
During this period, and while the whaling is going on, no pounding 
must be done in the village, and it is not allowable even to rap with 
the knuckles on wood for fear of frightening away the whales.’ It is 
interesting to find that at Norton Sound, where the whale is not pur- 
sued, this superstition has been transferred to the salmon fishery, 
one of the most important industries of the year. Mr. Dall* says: 
“While the fishery lasts no wood must be cut with an axe, or the sal- 
mon will disappear.” 
As soon as the lead opens, and sometimes :before when the prospect 
looks promising, the boats are taken out to the edge of the land floe 
and kept out there during the season, which lasts till about the last 
week in June, when they are brought in and got ready for the summer 
expeditions. When the lead closes, as often happens, the boats are 
hauled up on the ice and many or all of the crews come home until 
there are prospects of open water. When there is open water, the 
boats are always on the lookout for whales, either cruising about in 
thé lead or lying up at the edge of the floe, the crews eating and sleep- 
ing when they can get a chance and shooting seals and ducks when 
there are no whales in sight. The women and children travel back 
and forth between the village and the boats, carrying supplies of food 
for the whalemen. 
In 1883, there was a regular beaten trail along the smooth shore ice 
between Imé/kptin and Utkiavwin, where people were constantly tray- 
eling back and forth. When the boats are out no woman is allowed to 
sew, as was noticed by Dr. Simpson. To carry the wniak out over 
the ice it is lashed on a flat sled and drawn by dogs and men. A de- 
scription of one of these boats which I accompanied for part of its jour- 
ney out tothe open water, will show how a whaleboat is fitted out. The 
rifles, harpoons, lances, and other gear of the party were sent on ahead 
on a sled drawn by half a dozen dogs, with a woman to lead them. 
After these had made a short stage, they were unfastened from this 
' Hall speaks of seeing the angeko “ very busy ankooting on the hills'’"—‘tTo try and get the pack 
ice out of the bay."’— Arctic Res., p. 573. 
2Compare Rink, Tales, ete., p. 55: ‘To the customs just enumerated may be added various regula- 
lly that of the whale, this animal being easily scared away by vari- 
ous kinds of impurity or disorder.” 
8Alaska, p. 147. 
4 Loc, cit., p. 261. 
tions regarding the chase, especi: 
