HORNS AND TUSKS 309 



brown colour, showing the true ivory structure but resem- 

 bHng the brown beach pebbles in colour. Ivory has also 

 been used for two toggles or buttons, one representing a seal 

 diving and the other a whale, the first material from Port 

 Barrow and the second from the Alaskan shores of Bering 

 Sea. Other ivory carvings are dolls' heads, also from the 

 Bering Sea coast. 



The mammoth ivory is collected by the natives on the 

 banks of the rivers which flow into Kotzebue Sound, the old 

 deposits being gradually uncovered by the spring freshets, 

 and also by the recession of the ice cliffs. The very old tusks, 

 which have begun to turn blue, are sometimes pulverized, 

 and a blue paint is then made from the powder, with which 

 masks, beluga hats, finger-rattles, and the like are decorated. 

 From the better pieces various useful objects, such as ladles, 

 spoons, skin-scrapers or fat-scrapers, etc., are made. 



In southeastern Alaska the natives secure pieces of wal- 

 rus tusk in trade, and of these they occasionally make very 

 striking necklaces; some of these are quite artistically carved. 

 They are chiefly used for the adornment of the Shamans, or 

 wonder-working priests of this primitive race. Some of 

 these pieces are of a rich deep brown tint, while others re- 

 semble fine amber in their colouring.* 



The walrus is a pinnipedian of the family Trichecidce, of 

 which there are two species, Tricheeus rosmarus, in the Arctic 

 Ocean on the shores of Greenland, and Tricheeus ohesus, 

 found in the region of Bering Strait. The narwhal belongs 

 to an entirely distinct order, the Cetacea, of which it is the 

 species Monodon monoceros, of the sub-family Delphinap- 

 terince. It does not find its way as far south as does the 

 walrus, rarely appearing below 65° North latitude. The 

 tusk (there is usually but one) of the male projects through 



*The collection shown in the plate was sent by Mr. G. F. Emmons, with a personal 

 communication embodying the information given above. 



