Hunting scores
The only thing that we saw of the nature of numerical records were the series of animals engraved upon ivory, already alluded to. In most cases we were unable to learn whether the figures really represented an actual record or not, though the bag handle, No. 89424 [890] already figured, was said to contain the actual score of whales killed by old Yú´ksĭña. The custom does not appear to be so prevalent as at Norton Sound (see above, p. 117). Many of these possible scores being engraved on ivory implements have already been described. With one exception they only record the capture of whales or reindeer. The exception (No. 89425 [1732], Fig. 153b) presents a series of ten bearded seals. The reindeer are usually depicted in a natural attitude, and some of the circumstances of the hunt are usually represented. For instance, a man is figured aiming with a bow and arrow toward a line of reindeer, indicating that such a number were taken by shooting, while a string of deer, represented without legs as they would appear swimming, followed by a rude figure of a man in a kaiak, means that so many were lanced in the water. Other incidents of the excursion are also sometimes represented. On these records the whale is always represented by a rude figure of the tail cut off at the “small,” and often represented as hanging from a horizontal line.
We also brought home four engraved pieces of ivory, which are nothing else than records of real or imaginary scenes. I have figured all of these. Fig. 360 (No. 89487 [1026] from Nuwŭk) is a narrow flat tablet of ivory, 4.8 inches long and 1 inch wide, with a string at one end to hang it up by. On each face is an ornamental border inclosing a number of incised figures, which probably represent actual scenes, as the tablet is not new.
The figures on the obverse face are colored with red ocher. At the upper end, standing on a cross line, with his head toward the end, is a rudely drawn man, holding his right hand up and his left down, with the fingers outspread. At his left stands a boy with both hands down. These figures probably represent the hunter and his son. Just below the cross line is a man raising a spear to strike an animal which is perhaps meant for a reindeer without horns. Three deer, also without horns, stand with their feet on one border with their heads toward the upper end, and on the other border near the other end are two bucks with large antlers heading the other way, and behind them a man in a kaiak. Between him and the animal which the first man is spearing is an object which may represent the crescent moon. The story may perhaps be freely translated as follows: “When the moon was young the man and his son killed six reindeer, two of them bucks with large antlers. One they speared on land, the rest they chased with the kaiak.”
On the reverse the figures and border are colored black with soot. In the left-hand lower corner is a she bear and her cub heading to the left, followed by a man who is about to shoot an arrow at them. Then come two more bears heading toward the right, and in the right-hand lower corner is a whale with two floats attached to him by a harpoon line. Above this is an umiak with four men in it approaching another whale which has already received one harpoon with its two floats. The harpoon which is to be thrust at him may be seen sticking out over the bow of the boat. Then come two whales in a line, one heading to the left and one to the right. In the left-hand upper corner is a figure which may represent a boat, bottom up, on the staging of four posts. We did not learn the actual history of this tablet, which was brought down for sale with a number of other things.
Fig. 361 (No. 89473 [1349] from Utkiavwĭñ) is a piece of an old snow-shovel edge with freshly incised figures on both faces, which the artist said represented his own record. The figures are all colored with red ocher. On the obverse the figures all stand on a roughly drawn ground line. At the left is a man pointing his rifle at a bear, which stands on its hind legs facing him. Then comes a she bear walking toward the left followed by a cub, then two large bears also walking to the left, and a she bear in the same attitude, followed by two cubs, one behind the other. This was explained by the artist as follows: “These are all the bears I have killed. This one alone (pointing to the ’rampant’ one) was bad. All the others were good.” We heard at the time of his giving the death shot to the last bear as it was charging his comrade, who had wounded it with his muzzle-loader. On the reverse, the figures are in the same position. The same man points his rifle at a string of three wolves. His explanation was: “These are the wolves I have killed.”
Fig. 362 (No. 89474 [1334] from Utkiavwĭñ) is newly made, but was said to be the record of a man of our acquaintance named Mûñĭñolu. It is a flat piece of the outside of a walrus tusk 9.7 inches long and 1.8 wide at the broader end. The figures are incised on one face only, and colored with red ocher. The face is divided lengthwise into two panels by a horizontal line. In the upper panel, at the left, is a man facing to the right and pointing a gun at a line of three standing deer, facing toward the left. Two are bucks and one a doe. Then come two bucks, represented without legs, as if swimming in the water, followed by a rude figure of a man in a kaiak. Below the line at the left is an umiak with five men, and then a row of twelve conventionalized whales’ tails, of which all but the first, second, and fifth are joined to the horizontal line by a short straight line. The record may be freely translated as follows: “I went out with my gun and killed three large reindeer, two bucks and a doe. I also speared two large bucks in the water. My whaling crew have taken twelve whales.” The number of whales is open to suspicion, as they just fill up the board.
Fig. 363 (No. 56517 [121] from Utkiavwĭñ) is a piece of an old snow-shovel edge 4.2 inches long, with a loop of thong at the upper side to hang it up by. It is covered on both faces with freshly incised figures, colored with red ocher, representing some real or imaginary occurrence.
The obverse is bordered with a single narrow line. At the left is a man standing with arms outstretched supporting himself by two slender staffs as long as he is. In the middle are three rude figures of tents, very high and slender. At the right is a hornless reindeer heading to the left, with a man standing on its back with his legs straddled apart and his arms uplifted. On the reverse, there is no border, but a single dog and a man who supports himself with a long staff are dragging an empty rail sledge toward the left.
I find no mention of the use of any such scores among the eastern Eskimo, but they are very common among those of the west, as shown by the Museum collections. They record in this way, not only hunting exploits but all sorts of trivial occurrences.