Eskimo String Figures 191 b 



contact between the Mackenzie delta and Hudson bay natives, thus supporting 

 the theory^ that the Copper Eskimos are intrusive into the Coronation gulf 

 region. However, no great weight can be attached to merely negative evidence. 



It may be interesting to notice that the names or interpretations of the 

 figures, like art patterns, are influenced by local conditions. Thus XIII was 

 interpreted by the inland Eskimos of northern Alaska as an old man dragging a 

 bearded seal, whereas the Mackenzie delta natives considered the animal a 

 beluga. Bearded seals are not uncommon along the Alaskan coast, but ara 

 rare in the Mackenzie delta; The beluga, on the other hand, is particularly 

 common in the delta, and the hunting of it in spring was as much a feature of 

 native life as the hunting of the bowhead whale at Barrow. The very next 

 figure, XIV, "the reindeer dragging a sled," could never have been so interpreted 

 outside of Siberia, since there alone (until within the last few years) are reindeer 

 used to drag a sled. XXXI must have received its name of "beaver" in a region 

 where that animal was known; in Coronation gulf and eastward, where the 

 beaver does not exist, the figure bears a different name. Many other examples 

 could be cited, but it is unnecessary to labour the point. 



Many of the Eskimo figures here recorded will undoubtedly be found among 

 the northern Indians of Canada and Alaska. Some, perhaps, were originally 

 not Eskimo figures at all, but were borrowed from their Indian neighbours. The 

 game is fairly popular among these Indians, but so far as I know none of their 

 figures have as yet been published. 



String figures have been recorded in large numbers from different parts of 

 the world, particularly from Melanesia. It may be worth pointing out some of 

 the differences between the Melanesian and Eskimo methods of manipulating 

 the string. In both regions the majority of the figures begin with Opening A or 

 Position 1. There are in addition a few abnormal openings, some of which are 

 the same in both places; but what I have called in this memoir Opening C, 

 which occurs in at least twenty Eskimo figures, seems to be quite unknown in 

 Melanesia. Again, very characteristic of Eskimo figures is the interchanging or 

 combining of the loops on opposite thumbs or fingers, a movement that is rarely 

 found in Melanesia. On the other hand Melanesian players seem often to use 

 the middle fingers instead of the indices, whereas the Eskimos rarely use the 

 middle fingers at all if the indices are available. Altogether foreign to the 

 Eskimos, again, is that most characteristic feature of Melanesian figures, the 

 "Caroline Islands Extension," with its outward position of the palms. There 

 is very little difference as regards the complexity of the figures from the two 

 regions, or their realistic interpretations, but it is comparatively rare to find in 

 Melanesia a sequence of figures illustrating a narrative, whereas such sequences 

 are very common among the Eskimos. 



3 D. Jenness, "The Origin of the Copper Eskimos and their Copper Culture," The Geographical Review, New York. 

 XII, 4, Oct., 1923, pp. 540-551. 



