388 THE POINT BARROW ESKIMO. 
thick stick of ivory resembling that used by the eastern Eskimo.' We 
brought home two of these sticks, both of which belong with the drum 
No. 56743 [31]. Fig. 386a (No. 56540 [31]) is a roughly cylindrical rod 
of ivory with a hole for a lanyard. The larger end is ornamented by 
rudely incised and darkened lines which represent the eyes and outline 
of the mouth of a ‘“bow-head” whale. Fig. 386) (No. 56540 [31a]) is a 
plain round stick of ivory 9-4 inches long. It is rather roughly made 
and somewhat warped. The use of the long stick is perhaps derived 
from Siberia, where the short thick stick does not appear to be used.” 
Holes in the membrane of the drum are sometimes mended with 
pieces of the crop of the ptarmigan. At any rate, this is what I was told 
by a native, who begged from me the crops of two of these birds that I 
was skinning, saying that he wanted them to mend his drum. These 
drums are always beaten as an accompaniment to invocations of spirits 
or incantations. This practice is so common that some authors are in 
the habit of always speaking of them as “‘shaman drums”. As I have 
Fic. 386.—Ivory drumsticks. 
already stated, their most common use is purely as a musical instru- 
ment, and they are used not only by the so-called “shamans” but by 
everybody. 
Character and frequency of music.—Their music consists of monoto- 
nous chants, usually with very little perceptible air, and pitched gener- 
ally in a minor key. I could not perceive that they had any idea of 
“tune,” in the musical sense, but when several sang together each 
pitched the tune to suit himself. They, however, keep excellent time. 
The ordinary songs are in “common” or 4 time.’ The words are often 
extemporaneous, and at tolerably regular intervals comes the refrain, 
“ A yana yaa, a yana ya,” which takes the place of the “ 4mna aja” 
of the eastern Eskimo. Sometimes, when they are humming or singing 
to themselves, the words are nothing but this refrain. Their voices, 
as a general thing, are musical. 
Like all Eskimo, they are very fond of music, and are constantly 
‘See, for example, Bessell's Naturalist, vol. 18, pt. 9, p. 881. (The people of Smith Sound use the 
femur of a walrus or seal. Cf. Capt. Lyon's picture, Parry's 2d Voyage, pl. opposite p. 530, and 
Gilder, Schwatka’s Search, p. 43, where the people of the west shore of Hudson Bay are described as 
using a ‘wooden drumstick shaped likea potato-masher.”) 
2See Hooper, Tents, ete., p. 51, and Nordenskiéld, Vega, vol. 2, pp. 23 and 128; figure on p, 24. 
3Compare Crantz, vol. 1, p. 176. ‘ 
