MURDOCH.) AMULETS. 435 
specific purpose, which indeed we learned in the case of some of those 
in the collection. Like the amulets of the Greenlanders, they appear to 
be! “certain animals or things which had belonged to or been in contact 
with certain persons (e. g., the people of an- 
cient times, or fortunate hunters) or supernat- 
ural beings,” and “objects which merely by their 
appearance recalled the effect expected from the 
amulet, such as figures of various objects.” To 
the latter class belong the rudely flaked flint 
images of whales, already mentioned, and prob- 
ably many of the other small images of men 
and animals already described, especially those 
fitted with holes for strings to hang them up by. 
The flint whale is a very common amulet, in- 
tended, as we understood, to give good luck in 
whaling, and is worn habitually by many of 
the men and boys under the clothes, suspended 
around the neck by a string. The captain and 
harpooner of a whaling crew also wear them 
as pendants on the fillets already described, cag JIAREH oe 
and on the breast of the jacket. We obtained 
five of these objects, all of very nearly the same shape, but of differ 
ent materials and varying somewhat in size. Fig. 421 represents one 
of these (No. 56703 [208] from Utkiaywin) made of a piece of hard 
colorless glass, probably a fragment of a ship’s “deadlight.” Itis rather 
roughly flaked into a figure of a “bowhead” whale, 3-4 inches long, as 
seen from above and very much flattened with exaggerated flukes. 
The flippers were rudely indicated in the outline, but the left one is 
broken off. 
No. 89613 [771] from Utkiavwin is a very similar image, 2-4 inches 
long, which perhaps is of the same material, though it may be made of 
rock erystal. No. 56707 [159] from 
Utkiavwin is a very small whale (1-4 
inches long), chipped in large flakes 
out of a water-worn pebble of smoky 
quartz, while No. 89577 [939] Fig. 
422, from the same village, which is 
a trifle larger (2 inches long), is made 
of dark crimson jasper. The large 
Fi. 422,—Whale flaked from red jasper. black flint whale, No. 56683 [61], 
also from Utkiavwin, which is 3-9 inches long, is the rudest of all the 
figures of the whales. It is precisely the shape of the blade of a skin 
scraper, except for the roughly indicated flukes. 
Fig. 423 (No. 89524 [1299] from Utkiavwin) is a rude wooden image 
of the same animal, 34 inches long, very broad and flat-bellied. It is 
! Rink, Tales, ete., p. 52. 
