222 ^ Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-18 



when the hunters are confined to their huts. Thus one stormy day in the winter 

 of 1915, after the natives had been dancing for some time in the dance-house, 

 Uloksak suggested a wrestling match. Some one called out " Hold a stance", 

 and immediately everyone began to talk about the ill-luck they had been 

 experiencing owing to the constant storms. Uloksak, however, laid aside the 

 drum he had just been using, and began the tournament by throwing his arms 

 around one of the men and dragging him into the ring. Tripping with the feet 

 is not allowed in these contests; each man grasps his opponent around the neck 

 with one arm, and around the waist with the other, and tries by sheer strength 

 to throw him off his feet. A short man is therefore at a great disadvantage, 

 although he may be quite as strong and active as his opponent. 



In the dance-house too the natives often practice some simple acrobatic 

 feats. A stout line of bearded seal-skin is passed through two holes in the roof 

 and clamped with two strong wooden poles.' Hanging by his hands the native 

 circles round till his toes are almost touching the rope; then he swings violently 

 back in a half-circle and comes to an upright position, his body balanced against 

 the rope with the weight resting on the hands. From this position he swings 

 round again in a half-circle, throws his legs violently out and swings back again. 

 The exercise is continued until the perfofmer becomes tired or fails to maintain 

 his balance. Very few of the natives, however, could accomplish the feat at 

 all. The women never attempted it, though they sometimes joined in a simpler 

 exercise in which two small loops were made in the rope about a foot apart. 

 Hanging by these the performer circled round and placed a foot in each loop, 

 then released his hands, and hung at full length downwards with his head 

 almost touching the floor. From this position he had to draw himself up again, 

 grasp the loop with his hands, release his feet and drop to the floor. 



Foot-ball, or hand-ball, for the ball is both kicked along the ground and 

 thrown from hand to hand, is played occasionally by the natives of Bathurst 

 inlet, who learned it, Ilatsiak said, from the Netsilik Eskimos. The ball, 

 ekitak, is made of hairless deer-skin Hke the membrane of the drum, but no 

 information was obtained on how the game itself is played. 



Singing and dancing are the main distractions of the Eskimos. Short 

 stories are sometimes narrated, chiefly in the dance-houses during the winter, 

 but the Copper Eskimos have not the same passion for them as the natives 

 farther west. The only musical instrument they possess is the tambourine or 

 drum, kilaun. Children, and even adults at times, frequently produce a scale 

 of notes by flipping their finger-nails in succession against their upper incisors, 

 beginning with the httle finger. There can of course be no fixed intervals in 

 their scale, but different notes are made by the different fingers, through 

 modifications probably of the cavity of the mouth, though the movement is 

 difficult to detect. 



The drum is merely a circular wooden hoop with a membrane of deerskin 

 stretched over it. One that the Coppermine river natives were using in the 

 winter of 1914-15 was made of poplar obtained near Great Bear lake. The 

 flat lath had been curved round to a rough oval, and the overlapping ends 

 riveted with iron nails. The rim was 7 cm. wide and 2 cm. thick, and the two 

 inside diameters were 85.5 cm. and 77 cm. The handle was a short stout 

 piece of poplar 16 cm. long without any ornamentation; it was notched at one 

 end to fit the rim, to which it was lashed with strands of plaited sinew. The 

 membrane was simply a scraped caribou skin lashed around the rim with 

 cod-fine. A new membrane was fitted on during my visit. Three men held 

 the skin taut over the frame while a fourth drew tight the lashings. The edge 

 of the membrane where it protruded below the lashing was wound round a 

 stick, and levered down so that the parchment was stretched still tighter. One 



>Cf. Amundsen, Vol. II, pp. 17-18. 



