82 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. IV., No. 77. 



form made by the more industrious ones, that I 

 have tried to represent in fig. 1 ; for, when ordi- 

 nary sticks are used, it is in the most shiftless 

 igloos and abject families, about whom nothing 



are clogged into the fur ; for I have seen a rein- 

 deer-coat, soaked in water and covered with 

 solid ice when frozen, rid of this so as to be no 

 longer noticeable to the eye, by an Innuit's ap- 



15" to 18" long. 

 Is" to 2£" on a & 



Fig. 1. 



can betaken as t3~pical. It is bluntly ' edged,' 

 as shown in cross-section in fig. 1 ; and this 

 facilitates the pounding-out of the snow where 

 it has been deeply embedded by a strong wind, 

 or ice which has frozen into the fur. They are 

 generally made of hard wood (fig. 2) , procured 

 from the traders or whalers ; but I understand, 

 that, in intensely cold weather, oak or hickory is 

 more liable to break than pine or spruce. When 

 wood is very scarce, the}' are sometimes made of 

 bone. Fig. 3 rudely represents one in the pos- 

 session of the author, made by the Netschilluks 

 in and around King William's Land, from the 

 shin-bone of a reindeer, carved with grooves 

 in the handle to fit the fingers. Oftentimes 

 both wood and bone ah-now-tuks are carved into 

 fanciful designs or figures, — an art for which 

 the Innuits are so well celebrated. Sometimes, 

 when the snow rests lightly on the garments to 

 be cleaned, a glove is taken from the hand and 

 used as an ah-now-tuk, especially where large, 

 heavy bear-skin gloves are worn, — such as, I 

 understand from Lieut. Ray, the Point Barrow 

 natives use altogether. But it is easy to see 



plication of the ah-now-tuk. It usually takes 

 about two or three minutes to clean a coat ; but, 

 when the sledges have been out all day in a se- 

 vere storm, half an hour is nothing unusual 

 in cleaning every thing made of reindeer-skin. 

 I have already hinted at one use of the snow- 

 stick in my previous article, when the woman 

 of the household would belabor the intruding 

 dogs over the nose ; and it is occasionally em- 

 ployed by the lords of creation in correcting 

 their spouses, although I think I can say that 

 such instances are more rare than among 

 equally ignorant people of civilized countries. 

 The ice-chisel and ice-scoop, called by the 

 Eskimos too'-oke and e'-lowt, are used in 

 digging through the ice on a lake to get to 

 fresh water. Going into camp near a lake or 

 river, one or two persons, usually nearly grown 

 boj's, are sent out on the ice to dig a hole to 

 get fresh water ; for, if snow or ice have to 

 be melted, a quantity of oil is consumed, and 

 the warm meal is usually delajxd about half 

 or three-quarters of an hour thereb}'. The 

 first thing to be done is to be sure and select 



Fig. 2. — Snow-stick made from the wood of Franklin's ships. 



that the} r cannot compare in efficac}' with the 

 true snow-stick, especially where ice and snow 



ambidexterity of the various Eskimo tribes with whom I have 

 come in contact, those not possessing this functional symmetry 

 being rare exceptions to a general rule; and even in those, the 

 superiority of dexterity over gauclierie\s not so well marked as 

 in their more civilized brethren. They drive their dogs, using 

 their whip indifferently with either hand. They shoot their 

 game indifferently from either shoulder, skinning and carving 

 their carcasses without regard to the particular hand employed. 

 In the most delicate and complicated tasks that they undertake, 

 the use of one hand only is imposed until it is fatigued, when it is 

 freely exchanged for the other. Assuming the simple-minded 

 Innuit to be low in the ethnological scale, these facts might sup- 

 port the theory, so ably advanced by Dr. Daniel Wilson of To- 

 ronto, that the primitive condition of man and other vertebrates 

 was, as their early foetal condition still is, one of complete bilat- 

 eral symmetry.not only structural, but also functional." 



a place that is not frozen to the bottom. In 

 a hilly country, with steep granitic, trap, or 

 similar banks to the lakes or rivers, any place 

 will do. Wherever sedimentary deposits oc- 

 cur, more caution is needed. In a river the 

 native is not a bad judge of the places where 

 he will find the swiftest currents even under 

 the ice, and here he knows that the glacial 

 covering is the thinnest. Any snow banks or 

 drifts that have been formed by the wind be- 

 fore the temperature in the winter reached its 

 minimum, will give thinner ice, and conse- 

 quently less work ; for the snow can be shov- 



