556 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1888. 



bits of wood. Sometimes handles are dispensed with. Mr. Warren 

 K. Moorbead found some perforated teeth in an Ohio mound that in every 

 respect resemble the Eskimo cord handles. They have also been found 

 in caves in Europe decorated with concentric circles like those on the 

 Eskimo specimens. 



The bows are among the most striking specimens from this peoi)le. 

 They are pared down with great waste from the tusks of the walrus, 

 taking the graceful curve of the tusk. The Museum possesses one 24.} 

 inches long. It is on their decoration that the Eskimo lavishes his ut- 

 most art. The bow does not lend itself well to sculpture, as does the 

 mouth-piece; so he covers the smooth ivory with the most graphic and 

 truthful engravings of scenes in the active hunting life in the Arctic, or 

 he tallies on it the pictures of the reindeer, whales, seals, and other ani- 

 mals that he has killed, 



Professor Baird was interested more with these bows than with any 

 other Eskimo products, and desired to have them figured and studied. 



The distribution of the bow is remarkable. It is not found south of 

 Norton Sound, but extends north and east as far as the Eskimo range. 

 The Ohukcbis use it,* but the Ostyaks use the ancient breast drill. t 



The bow is used by individuals in boring holes. It is presumed that 

 its use as a fire-making tool is secondary, the cord and handles being 

 the older. The difficulty of making fire is greatly increased when one 

 man attempts to make it with the compound drill; at the critical mo- 

 ment the dust will fail to ignite; besides, there is no need of one man 

 making fire; a thing that is for the common good will be shared by 

 all. Hence the cord with handles, which usually requires that two men 

 should work at the drill, is as a rule used by the Eskimo. 



Though the Sioux, and some other North American tribes, made use 

 of the bow to increase the speed of the drill, they did not use the thong 

 with handles, nor was the bow common even in tribes of the Siouan 

 stock that had attained to its use (see remarks p. 549). The bow may be 

 termed a more advanced invention, allowing one man with ease to bore 

 holes. 



The hearth is made of any suitable wood. It is commonly stepped 

 and has slots. The central hole with groove is also found. These 

 hearths are preserved carefully, and fire has been made on some of them 

 many times. 



The distribution of the central-hole hearth (see fig. 21, pi. lxxiv), and 

 the slot-and-step hearth (see fig. 36), is rather striking. The central holes 

 are found in the specimens observed from the north coast of Alaska, In- 

 sular British America, and Greenland, exclusively. The stepped hearth 

 with edge holes and slots is by far the more common in western Alaska, 

 though the other method crops out occasionally ; both ways are some- 

 times used in the same tribe. More often, the central holes are bored 



"Nordenskiold.— Voyage of the Vega. London, 188L Ii, p. liil. 

 tSeebohra. — Siberia in Asia. p. 109. 



