130 B Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-18 



CXI. The Child 



As first shown to me by an Inland Eskimo from the Endicott mountains, 

 this figure was the same as the preceding, but produced in a slightly different 

 manner. Later another Eskimo from the same region added a further move- 

 ment, which produced a different figure. I have never seen it in any other region. 



Opening C. 



Bring the hands together, the left palm turned downwards, the right upwards. 



With the palm of the right index from the distal side take up the string 



that passes over the backs of the left thumb and index and draw it through the 



right thumb-index loop. Separate the hands, releasing the left index from its 



loop and the right thumb. 



Chant : 



qeyum icuani aqopiXye he he On the end of the log he sits. 



qeyum iruani aqopi\ye he he On the end of the log he sits. 



aulale aulale Let him go, let him go. 



titatita tavuya (?) over there. 



kaiyufidtqutnun aulale To Kaiyufiat's people let him go. 



At the word kaiyufiat the first native dropped the left little finger loop, 

 when you had the same figure of the child as in the preceding case. No. CX. 

 But the other native passed the left index into the left thumb loop from the 

 distal side, hooked its palm round the lower transverse string and drew it up 

 through. Then, dropping both the thumb and little finger loops of the left 

 hand, and holding the index loop in the whole hand, he obtained figure 171. 



The Childken Cycle 



There are three figures, each known in a different region, which nevertheless 

 must be considered as closely connected with one another. The initial move- 

 ments in two cases follow the methods employed in other very common figures; 

 in the third there is a rather unusual opening. All three after this continue in 

 exactly the same way, producing by a series of intricate movements a succession 

 of children, one behind the other. At Cape Prince of Wales "the children" are 

 followed by "a dog dragging a sled," and a song accompanies the figure; among 

 the Barrow and Inland natives it is a polar bear which is chasing the children, 

 but there is no song; in the Mackenzie delta and in Coronation gulf "the child- 

 ren" are called "men dancing," and they are followed by their drum; the 

 Mackenzie natives sing a chant with it, but the Coronation gulf Eskimos have 

 no chant. Boas has a figure from the west coast of Hudson bay called "Eskimos 

 and drum," and in the Chuckchee collection of Captain Bernard there is one 

 called "a dance." Both of these show "the children," although the figures as a 

 whole are different, and the opening movements must therefore be dissimilar. 

 Undoubtedly, the later movements that produce "the children" have been known 

 over a very wide area, but have been grafted on to different introductions ini 

 different regions. 



