128 IVORY AND THE ELEPHANT 



the bitter winter cold of this region. A long row of pines 

 forms a not inartistic background. A splendid example is 

 in the collection of Henry Walters, of Baltimore. 



The skill of the Siberian ivory carvers is well expressed 

 in a number of small but lifelike designs. A curious speci- 

 men shows us the utilization of a camel for ploughing; others 

 depict white bears, cleverly set upon rough stone bases 

 figuring rocks. Then we have a number of artistically 

 carved knife-handles, presenting a series of animal heads 

 rendered with a high degree of skill; two exceptional exam- 

 ples offer respectively the head of an Eskimo and the full 

 form of a fish. An interesting little bit gives a design show- 

 ing a native who has unharnessed his reindeer from his sled 

 and pitched his tent; alongside the sled repose the skis for 

 travelling over the snow-clad fields. A curious and quaint 

 piece of carving, rather suggesting Nuremberg than Siberia 

 in its workmanship, gives a peasant's hut with its enclosed 

 yard, in which is a small colt. One of the best is certainly 

 that showing a reindeer harnessed to a sled and driven by a 

 native; the very long reins are attached to the animal's 

 antlers, and a stick of portentous dimensions is carried by 

 the driver as a means of giving a few gentle reminders to his 

 reindeer when requisite. The painful effort of the poor 

 creature to drag along the sled is graphically portrayed.* 



The Central Eskimo of North America have a game called 

 tingmiujang, "images of birds," played with about fifteen fig- 

 ures, most of them shaped as birds, but some rudely represent- 

 ing men and women. For these figures ivory is sometimes 

 used . They have fl at bottoms , so that when thrown upward by 

 one of the players some or all of them may stand upright 

 when they fall. In this case the player in whose direction the 

 figure points gains the piece, and the one who gets the greater 



*Photographs and information sent by Dr. G. Onesime Clerc, President of the Soci^te 

 Ouralienne des Amis des Sciences Naturelles, Ekaterinburg, Russia. 



