Eskimo String Figures 



133 b 



The Mackenzie and Coronation gulf method produces a number of dancers, 

 the last holding a drum. As each disappears to the right the operator (if a 

 Mackenzie native) says: 



inuk aqpaqaqtoq A man jumps out. 



But as the last figure disappears he says : 



qiXautiliyaluk ayayuqaqcaluk Carrying his drum the old man jumps 



aqpaqaqtoq out in his turn. 



The Copper Eskimos regard the figure as a number of people in a dance-house, 

 and consequently call it qaXiyimatuaqtut, "they are dancing in the dance-house.'' 



CXV. A Shaman's Familiar Spirits^ 



This figure is known all along the coast from Barrow to Coronation gulf 

 The Barrow natives sing a chant with it, but I do not know whether any exists 

 in the Mackenzie delta. In both these regions it is called tupilek. Dr. Anderson, 

 however, saw a Mackenzie figure representing "a shaman being bound" which 

 was almost certainly the same as this figure; he obtained the name qoqayitoq 

 for it, the meaning of which I do not know, unless, perhaps, "he snaps the 

 ropes." The Copper Eskimos have no chant, and call the figure toynyayyuk, 

 meaning "a shaman who has invoked his guardian spirit," whereas tupilek seems 

 to mean "the guardian spirits" themselves. The opening is peculiar; I have 

 not found it in any other figure. 



Opening C. 



Bring the hands together, the palms turned downward; with the palm of 

 the right index take up the left thumb-index string, and at the same time with 

 the palm of the left thumb take up the corresponding right thumb-index string. 

 Separate the hands, drawing these two strings out and turning the palms upward. 



Drop the little finger loops. 



Hook the palms of the little fingers over the radial index strings, then, 

 pushing out with their backs from below both radial and ulnar thumb strings, 

 hook them over the ulnar index strings and hold these firmly against the palms. 



Katilluik the thumbs. 



You have "the two familiar spirits," one on each side. 

 Chant the song given below, at the same time threading one thumb loop 

 through the other again and again till you have a sheaf of twisted strings in the 

 middle, representing "the binding of the shaman." At the last words of the 

 song, drop the little finger loops. The whole figure resolves, leaving the dis- 

 entangled string in each hand — "the shaman" has extricated himself with the 

 help of his "familiar spirits." 



1 Cf. the illustration in Boas, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, Vol. XV. Part I. 1907. p. 511 



