374 THE POINT BARROW ESKIMO. 
Ray. He and Capt. Herendeen went over to Utkiavwin by special invi- 
tation on December 3, 1881, and witnessed one scene of the ‘ wood,” or 
“tree dance.” Many visitors were present from Nuwtk on the occasion 
of this dance, which lasted for two days and nights. On arriving at 
the village they found a crowd of upwards of 200 people assembled 
round the entrance of the ki/dyigi. In front of the entrance were 
drawn up in line five men and two women dancing to the music of a 
drum and two singers. 
They were all dressed in new deerskin clothes, with the snow-white 
flesh side turned out, and wore conical dance caps like that already 
described. They kept time to the music with their feet, moving their 
bodies to right and left with spasmodic jerks. To quote from Lieut. 
Ray’s MS. notes: 
Each dancer in turn sprang to the front and in extravagant gestures went through 
the motions of killing seal, walrus, and deer, and the pursuit of the whale. Each, 
as he finished, took his place in the line, was cheered by the crowd, then added his 
voice to the monotonous chant of the singers. 
After all had finished as many as could get in entered the ‘dance 
house.” At one end of this a small space was partitioned off with a 
piece of an old sail, and from the roof in the middle hung an object in- 
tended to represent a tree. This was made of two oblong boxes about 
6 inches in diameter, open at both ends, the lower about 25 feet long 
and the upper about 14, hinged together with seal thong. At one side 
hung a wolf’s skull, and on the other a dried raven. Two performers 
sat in the middle of the floor with their legs extended one between the 
other’s legs, with his nose touching the tree. A row of old men beat 
drums and sang, while the performers chanted a monotonous song, in 
which could be heard the words “rum, tobacco, seal, deer, and 
whale.” 
Presently the bottom of the curtain was lifted and out crawled five 
men on all fours, wearing on their heads the stuffed skins of the heads 
of different animals—the wolf, bear, fox, lynx, and dog. They swung 
their heads from side to side in unison, keeping time to the musie, 
uttering a low growl at each swing and shaking their rattle mittens. 
This they kept up for fifteen or twenty minutes, while the chant still 
went on, and the chief performer, with excited gestures, embraced the 
tree and rubbed his nose against it from time to time. At last all 
“sprang to their feet with a howl, and ended the dance with wild ges- 
tures.” Similar scenes, with new performers, which our party did 
not stay to witness, succeeded this, with feasting in the different 
houses. 
Capt. Herendeen also witnessed a small dance, lasting only one even- 
ing, which bore a curious resemblance to some of the so-called “favor 
figures” performed in the ““German cotillon” of civilized dancers. This 
kind of dance was performed purely for pleasure, and had nothing re- 
