Games and pastimes
Gambling
These people have only one game which appears to be of the nature of gambling. It is played with the twisters and marline spikes used for backing the bow, and already described, though Lieut. Ray says he has seen it played with any bits of stick or bone. I never had an opportunity of watching a game of this sort played, as it is not often played at the village. It is a very popular amusement at the deer-hunting camps, where Lieut. Ray often saw it played. According to him the players are divided into sides, who sit on the ground about 3 yards apart, each side sticking up one of the marline spikes for a mark to throw the twisters at. Six of the latter, he believes, make a full set. One side tosses the whole set one at a time at the opposite stake, and the points which they make are counted up by their opponents from the position of the twisters as they fall. He did not learn how the points were reckoned, except that twisters with a mark on them counted differently from the plain ones, or how long the game lasted, each side taking its turn of casting at the opposite stake. He, however, got the impression that the winning side kept the twisters belonging to their opponents. Mr. Nelson informs me in a letter that a similar game is played with the same implements at Norton Sound.
No. 56532 [9], from Utkiavwĭñ, is a bag full of these tools as used for playing this game. It contains 18 twisters, of different patterns, and 7 marline spikes. The bag is of membrane, perhaps a bladder. It is ovoid in shape, all in one piece, with a long opening in one side, which is closed by a piece of sinew braid about 40 inches long. This is knotted by one end round a fold of membrane at one end of the mouth, and when the bag is shut up is wrapped round the middle of it.
Some of these people have learned what cards are from the Nunatañmiun, though they do not know how to use them. They described how they were used by the “Nunatañmiun,” however, going through the motions of dealing cards. They told us that the latter played a great deal, and “gave much.” This “giving much” evidently referred to gambling, for they told Capt. Herendeen how two of the “Nunatañmiun” would sit down to play, one with a big pile of furs and one without any, and when they got up the furs would all belong to the other man.
Fig. 364 (No. 56531 [21]) represents some of a bunch of 25 little ivory images which were strung on a bit of seal thong. One is a neatly carved fox, 2.7 inches long, and the rest are ducks or geese, rather roughly carved, with flat bellies. The largest of these is 1.3 inches long and the smallest 0.8 inch. These were purchased at Plover Bay, eastern Siberia, during our brief visit in August, 1881, and were supposed to be merely works of art. I was, however, very much interested on my return to Washington to find that Dr. Franz Boas had brought from Cumberland Gulf a number of precisely similar images, which are there used for playing a game of the nature of “jackstones.” The player tosses up a handful of these images, and scores points for the number that sit upright when they fall.484 It is therefore quite likely that they are used for a similar purpose at Plover Bay. If this be so, it is a remarkable point of similarity between these widely separated Eskimo, for I can learn nothing of a similar custom at any intermediate point.
Festivals
The most important festivals are apparently semireligious in character and partake strongly of the nature of dramatic representations. At these festivals they make use of many articles of dress and adornment, not worn on other occasions, and even some “properties” and mechanical contrivances to add to the dramatic effect. All festivals are accompanied by singing, drumming, and dancing.
At the formal festivals, in the early winter, the performers are dressed in new deerskin clothing, with the snow-white flesh side outward, and in certain parts of the performance wear on their heads tall conical caps covered with rows of mountain sheep teeth which rattle as the wearer dances.
We brought home one of these dancing caps (kă´brû, käluka´) (No. 89820 [863] Fig. 365), made of deerskin with the hair inward and clipped close. The outside is painted all over with red ocher. The front is nearly all in one piece, but the back is irregularly pieced and gored. It is surmounted by a thick tuft of brown and white wolverine fur about 5 inches long, sewed into the apex. To the middle of one side at the edge is sewed a narrow strip of deerskin with the hair clipped close, which is long enough to go under the wearer’s chin and be knotted into a slit close to the edge of the other side of the cap. On the front edge is sewed a row of thirty-five incisor teeth of the mountain sheep by a thread running through a hole drilled through the root of each.
The series is regularly graduated, having the largest teeth in the middle and the smallest on the ends. Above this is a narrow strip of brown deerskin running two-thirds round the cap and sewed on flesh side out so that the hair projects as a fringe below. Above this are three ornamental bands about 2 inches apart running two-thirds round the cap, each fringed on the lower edge with sheep teeth strung as on the edge of the cap. The lower row contains 54 teeth, the middle 29, and the upper 31. The lowest band is made of 2 strips of mountain sheepskin with a narrow strip of black sealskin between them, and a narrow strip of brown deerskin with the hair out; the next is of coarse gray deerskin with the hair out; and the uppermost of brown deerskin with the flesh side out. The cap is old and dirty, and has been long in use.
The custom of wearing this style of cap appears to be peculiar to the northwestern Eskimo, as I find no mention for it elsewhere. It is perhaps derived indirectly from the northern Indians, some of whom are represented as wearing a similar headdress.
In certain parts of the same ceremony as witnessed by Lieut. Ray the dancers also wore rattle mittens, which were shaken in time to the music. A pair of these were offered for sale once, but Lieut. Ray did not consider them sufficiently of pure Eskimo manufacture to be worth the price asked for them. They were made of sealskin and covered all over the back with empty Winchester cartridge shells loosely attached by a string through a hole in the bottom, so as to strike against each other when the mitten was shaken. The five men who wore these mittens wore on their heads the stuffed skins of various animals, the wolf, bear, fox, lynx, and dog, which they were supposed to represent. These articles were never offered for sale, as they were probably too highly valued.
We collected twelve wooden masks, which we were told were worn in some of these ceremonies, though none of our party ever witnessed any performance in which they were used. Some of them are of undoubted age. No. 56499 [6] (Fig. 366) has been selected as the type of these masks (ki´nau, from ki´na, face). This is a rather good representation of a male human face, 8.8 inches long and 5.8 wide. It is quite smoothly carved out of cottonwood, and the back is neatly hollowed out, being more deeply excavated round the eyes and mouth and inside of the nose. The mouth is represented as wide open, showing the tip of the tongue attached to the underlip, and has six small teeth which look like dog’s incisors inserted in a row in the middle of the upper lip. The eyebrows and moustache are marked out with blacklead, and there are traces of red ocher on the cheeks. The holes for the strings are in the edge about on a level with the eyes. One end of a string of seal thong long enough to go around the wearer’s head is passed out through the hole on the right side, slit close to the tip, and the other end passed through this. The other end is passed out through the hole on the left and made fast with two half hitches. A row of small holes round the edge of the mask shows where a hood has been tacked on. This mask is rather old and somewhat soiled.
A very old weathered mask (No. 56497 [235] from Utkiavwĭñ), 7.8 inches long, and made of soft wood, apparently pine, is similar to the preceding, but has no tongue, and the teeth in both jaws are represented as a continuous ridge. It has an “imperial” as well as a moustache, marked with blacklead like the eyebrows. The cheeks are colored with red ocher. The edge is much gapped and broken, but shows the remains of a deep narrow groove running round on the outside about ¼ inch from the edge, and pierced with small holes for fastening on a hood.
Figure 367 (No. 89817 [856] also from Utkiavwĭñ) is a mask much like the preceding, 7.5 inches long, and made of spruce. It is peculiar in having the outer corners of the eyes rather depressed, and in addition to the moustache and imperial has a broad “whaleman’s mark” drawn with black lead across the eyes. It is grooved round the edge for fastening on a hood. The lower part of the face has been split off at the corners of the mouth and mended on with two stitches of whalebone, and a piece which was broken out at the left-hand corner of the mouth is secured by a wooden peg at the inner edge and a stitch of whalebone on the lower side. This mask has been for a long time fastened to an ornamented wooden gorget, and appeared to have been exposed to the weather, perhaps at the cemetery. The string is made of unusually stout sinew braid.
The remaining four ancient human masks are all masculine, and only one has any indication of labrets. On this mask, No. 89812 [1063], there are two small holes in the position of the labrets. It is probable that the wearers of these masks are supposed to represent the ancient Eskimo, who wore no labrets. A mask which was carelessly made for sale (No. 89814 [1056] from Utkiavwĭñ), however, has large plug-labrets carved out. Though roughly carved this mask is a very characteristic Eskimo face, and would almost pass as the portrait of a man of our acquaintance in Utkiavwĭñ. The two little roughly carved human faces on the top of this mask are probably merely for ornament. No such things are to be seen on any of the old masks which have been actually used. This mask seems to have been whittled out of the bottom of an old meat tray, and has a string of whalebone. Most of the genuine masks are of excellent workmanship, but two are quite roughly carved. One of these especially is such a bungling piece of work that it would be set down as commercial were it not weathered and evidently old. The painting never goes farther than marking out the beard and eyebrows with soot or black lead, and sometimes reddening the cheeks with ocher. Fig. 368 (No. 89816 [1583] from Utkiavwĭñ) is a very old mask of cottonwood, blackened with age and so rudely carved that the work was probably done with a stone tool. It is grooved around the edge for fastening on a hood and is 6.8 inches long.
The only female human masks seen are new and made for sale. One of these (No. 89819 [1057], Fig. 369, from Utkiavwĭñ) is roughly whittled from the bottom of an old meat tray, and has the hair, eyebrows, and a single line of tattooing on the chin painted with soot. It is 8.7 inches long and has strings of whalebone.
Another (No. 56498 [73] from Utkiavwĭñ) is about the size of the common masks and tolerably well made. It has the hair and eyebrows marked with black lead. The last is a foot long, and like the one figured is roughly whittled out of the bottom of an old meat tray. It has the hair, eyebrows, and a single stripe of tattooing on the chin marked with black lead. This came from Utkiavwĭñ (No. 89811 [1037]).
Another “commercial” mask (No. 89813 [1074] from Utkiavwĭñ) is very elaborate, but roughly and carelessly made. It is almost flat, with the features hardly raised in relief. In each corner of the mouth is inserted a slender ivory tusk about 1 inch long, and besides the eyebrows, moustache, and imperial, there is a broad “whaleman’s mark” running obliquely across the right cheek from the bridge of the nose. Six long feathers are stuck in the edge of the forehead. Curiously enough these are the feathers of the South American ostrich, and came from the feather duster in use at our station.
Fig. 370 (No. 56496 [258] from Utkiavwĭñ) represents, rather rudely, a wolf’s face and ears, and is the only animal mask we obtained or saw. It is of cottonwood, old and weathered, and is 4.7 inches long and 6.5 wide. It is painted on the edge with red ocher and has a streak of the same color down the ridge of the nose. The string is of whalebone and unbraided sinew pieced together.
Fig. 371 (No. 89815 [1050] from Utkiavwĭñ) is a mask that seems almost too small to have been worn, being only 6.1 inches long and 4.7 wide. It is very old, made of blackened cottonwood, and is the rudest representation of the human face which we saw. It is simply an oval disk, concavo-convex, with holes cut for the eyes, nostrils, and mouth. The rough cutting about the chin appears to have been done with a stone tool, and the mouth seems to be smeared with blood. The string passed through the holes in the forehead to hang it up by is much newer than the mask, being braided from cotton twine and fastened to a common galvanized boat nail.
The more southern Eskimo of Alaska are in the habit of using in their dances very elaborate and highly ornamented and painted masks, of which the National Museum possesses a very large collection. The ancient Aleuts also used masks.485 On the other hand, no other Eskimo, save those of Alaska, ever use masks in their performances, as far as I can learn, with the solitary exception of the people of Baffin Land, where a mask of the hide of the bearded seal is worn on certain occasions.486 Nordenskiöld saw one wooden mask among the people near the Vega’s winter quarters, but learned that this had been brought from Bering Strait, and probably from America.487
The masks appear to become more numerous and more elaborate the nearer we get to the part of Alaska inhabited by the Indians of the T’linket stock, who, as is well known employ, in their ceremonies remarkably elaborate wooden masks and headdresses. It may be suggested that this custom of using masks came from the influence of these Indians, reaching in the simple form already described as far as Point Barrow, but not beyond.488 With these masks was worn a gorget or breast-plate, consisting of a half-moon shaped piece of board about 18 inches long, painted with rude figures of men and animals, and slung about the neck. We brought home three of these gorgets, all old and weathered.
No. 89818 [1132], Fig. 372a, has been selected as the type of the gorget (sûkĭmûñ). It is made of spruce, is 18.5 inches long, and has two beckets of stout sinew braid, one to go round the neck and the other round the body under the wearer’s arms. The figures are all painted on the front face. In the middle is a man painted with red ocher; all the rest of the figures are black and probably painted with soot. The man with his arms outstretched stands on a large whale, represented as spouting. He holds a small whale in each hand. At his right is a small cross-shaped object which perhaps represents a bird, then a man facing toward the left and darting a harpoon with both hands, and a bear facing to the left. On the left of the red man are two umiaks with five men in each, a whale nearly effaced, and three of the cross-shaped objects already mentioned. Below them, also, freshly drawn with a hard, blunt lead pencil or the point of a bullet, are a whale, an umiak, and a three-cornered object the nature of which I can not make out.
Fig. 372b (No. 56493 [266] from Utkiavwĭñ) is a similar gorget, which has evidently been long exposed to the weather, perhaps at the cemetery, as the figures are all effaced except in the middle, where it was probably covered by a mask as in Fig. 367 (No. 89817 [855] from the same village). There seems to have been a red border on the serrated edge. In the middle is the same red man as before standing on the black whale and holding a whale in each hand. At his right is a black umiak with five men in it, and at his left a partially effaced figure which is perhaps another boat. The strings are put on as before, except that the two beckets are separate. The upper is made of sinew braid, and the lower, which is now broken, of seal thong. This gorget is 15.5 inches long and 4.7 wide. No. 89817 [855] (Fig. 367 already referred to) has a mask tied over the middle by means of the beckets, so that the figures in the middle are much fresher than those on the ends. The edges are painted red. In the middle is the same red man or giant holding the whale. The other figures are painted with soot.
This man or giant, able to hold out a whale, appears to be a legendary character, as we have his image carved in ivory. We unfortunately did not succeed in learning anything more about him, except that his name (apparently) was “kikámigo.” Hanging by the head to each elbow of this figure is a seal, and opposite its thighs two of the usual conventional whale’s tails, one on each side, with the flukes turned from him. The one on his left is attached to his waist by a straight line from its upper corner. At its right hand are a number of objects irregularly grouped. At the top an umiak with five men towing at a three-cornered object, which probably represents a dead whale; then a smaller umiak containing five men and apparently “fast” to a whale, which is spouting. A figure above this, almost obliterated, appears to be a small whale. Below are a large seal, three of the cross-shaped figures, four small whales, and one figure so much effaced that it can not be made out. On the left hand of the figure are two umiaks, and a whale with a line and float attached to him, then four crosses and a large seal in the corner. Below are four whales of different sizes, two bears, and a dog or wolf.
These gorgets appear to have gone out of fashion, as we saw none which were not very old, or which appeared to have been used recently. From the nature of the figures upon them, they were probably used in some of the ceremonies connected with the whale fishing. Kika´mĭgo may be the “divinity” who controls the whales and other sea animals.489
Mechanical Contrivances
In one of the performances which Capt. Herendeen witnessed, there stood in the middle of the floor facing each other, the stuffed skins of a fox and a raven. These were mounted on whalebone springs and moved by strings, so that the fox sprang at the raven and the raven pecked at the fox, while the singing and dancing went on. These animals were never offered for sale, but they brought over a stuffed fox very cleverly mounted so as to spring at a lemming, which by means of strings was made to run in and out of two holes in the board on which the fox was mounted. (No. 89893 [1378] from Utkiavwĭñ.) We unfortunately did not learn the story or myth connected with this representation.490 It was the skin of an Arctic fox in the summer pelage, with the paws and all the bones removed, and clumsily stuffed with rope yarn, not filling out the legs. A stick was thrust into the tail to within about two inches of the tip, so that it was curled up over the back. The skin was taken off whole by a single opening near the vent, which was left open, and through which was thrust into the body a strip of whalebone 2 inches wide and about ⅛ inch thick, which protruded about 4¼ inches and was fastened to the front edge of the hole by tying the flap of skin to the whalebone with three or four turns of sinew braid, kept from slipping by a notch in each edge of the whalebone.
The fox was attached to a piece of the paneling of a ship’s bulkhead, 29 inches long and 7.5 wide, by bending forward 2¾ inches of the end of the whalebone, and lashing it down parallel to the length of the board with four turns of stout thong, kept from slipping by a notch in each edge of the whalebone and running through holes in the board. The fox was thus held up by the spring parallel to the length of the board with its head and forelegs raised. A string of sinew braid 10 feet long was passed through a hole in the septum of the fox’s nose and knotted once so as to leave two equal ends. These ends were carried down through two holes, one in each edge of the board 9½ inches from the forward end, and each was tied to a roughly-rounded bit of pine stick round which it was reeled when not in use. By pulling these strings together, the fox was made to dart down his head, which was raised by the spring as soon as the string was slackened. By pulling one or the other string the fox could be made to dart to one or the other side of the board.
One man manipulated the fox, pulling a string with each hand. The lemming’s holes were about 1¼ inches in diameter, one in each edge of the board and at such a distance from the end that when the string, which was 7 feet 4 inches long, was drawn through them, it crossed the board just where the fox’s nose struck, when it was pulled down. The ends of the string were reeled round bits of stick. The lemming was a narrow strip of wolf’s fur, about 3 inches long, doubled in the middle, with the middle of the string hitched into the bight. By pulling the ends of the string alternately, the lemming was made to jump out of the hole on one side, run across the board and into the other, very much as a live lemming runs from one tunnel to another on the tundra. It took two persons, one on each side, to handle the lemming. The foxskin and spring appeared to be older than the rest of the machine. The board was originally 10 inches or 1 foot longer at each end, but had to be cut off to pack it.
Petroff mentions a similar custom among the “Nushegagmute” of Bristol Bay, of introducing stuffed animals moved with hidden strings in their performances;491 and Dall492 describes a festival at Norton Sound, where a dead seal was brought in and moved about with strings.
Description of Festivals
It is greatly to be regretted that we had not established such intimate relations with the natives, as afterwards was the case, in the winter of 1881-’82, since this was the only one of the two seasons that the great winter festival was held at Utkiavwĭñ. In the winter of 1882-’83 there had been so many deaths in the village that the natives did not feel like celebrating any regular festival, and only indulged in a few impromptu dances late in the season. These were unfortunately held in the evening when the writer’s tour of duty at the station prevented his witnessing them. Those of the party who did go over brought back only fragmentary and rather vague accounts of the performance. The confining nature of the work at the station prevented our witnessing any of the celebrations at Nuwŭk or at Pernyû, when the “Nunatañmiun” visitors were entertained.
The best accounts we have of any performance is given by Lieut. Ray. He and Capt. Herendeen went over to Utkiavwĭñ by special invitation on December 3, 1881, and witnessed one scene of the “wood,” or “tree dance.” Many visitors were present from Nuwŭk on the occasion of this dance, which lasted for two days and nights. On arriving at the village they found a crowd of upwards of 200 people assembled round the entrance of the kû´dyĭgĭ. In front of the entrance were drawn up in line five men and two women dancing to the music of a drum and two singers.
They were all dressed in new deerskin clothes, with the snow-white flesh side turned out, and wore conical dance caps like that already described. They kept time to the music with their feet, moving their bodies to right and left with spasmodic jerks. To quote from Lieut. Ray’s MS. notes:
Each dancer in turn sprang to the front and in extravagant gestures went through the motions of killing seal, walrus, and deer, and the pursuit of the whale. Each, as he finished, took his place in the line, was cheered by the crowd, then added his voice to the monotonous chant of the singers.
After all had finished as many as could get in entered the “dance house.” At one end of this a small space was partitioned off with a piece of an old sail, and from the roof in the middle hung an object intended to represent a tree. This was made of two oblong boxes about 6 inches in diameter, open at both ends, the lower about 2½ feet long and the upper about 1½, hinged together with seal thong. At one side hung a wolf’s skull, and on the other a dried raven. Two performers sat in the middle of the floor with their legs extended one between the other’s legs, with his nose touching the tree. A row of old men beat drums and sang, while the performers chanted a monotonous song, in which could be heard the words “rum, tobacco, seal, deer, and whale.”
Presently the bottom of the curtain was lifted and out crawled five men on all fours, wearing on their heads the stuffed skins of the heads of different animals—the wolf, bear, fox, lynx, and dog. They swung their heads from side to side in unison, keeping time to the music, uttering a low growl at each swing and shaking their rattle mittens. This they kept up for fifteen or twenty minutes, while the chant still went on, and the chief performer, with excited gestures, embraced the tree and rubbed his nose against it from time to time. At last all “sprang to their feet with a howl, and ended the dance with wild gestures.” Similar scenes, with new performers, which our party did not stay to witness, succeeded this, with feasting in the different houses.
Capt. Herendeen also witnessed a small dance, lasting only one evening, which bore a curious resemblance to some of the so-called “favor figures” performed in the “German cotillon” of civilized dancers. This kind of dance was performed purely for pleasure, and had nothing religious or dramatic about it. The music was furnished by the usual orchestra of old men, who beat drums and sang a monotonous song. Each person who intended to take part in the dance came provided with some small article to be given away as a “favor,” and rising in his turn, danced a few minutes, and then called out the name of the partner he wished to give it to. The latter then rose, and having received the “favor,” danced a while with him, and then both resumed their places among the spectators.
We never heard of any such elaborate “donation parties” as are described at Norton Sound and the Yukon region, where a man “saves up his property for years” to distribute it among his guests.493 A festival, however, was held at Nuwŭk in June, 1883, which apparently resembled the second kind described by Dall.494 Two men came down from Nuwŭk to invite Lieut. Ray and Capt. Herendeen, telling them what presents they were expected to bring. Unfortunately it was considered that too much was asked and the invitation was declined. The messengers carried “notched sticks.”495
Dances in which the children only take part, entirely for amusement, sometimes take place in the kû´dyĭgĭ, and people occasionally amuse themselves by dancing in the iglu. I have often seen the natives, especially the children and young people, dancing in the open air, and the dancing was always of very much the same character. The feet were but slightly moved, keeping time to the music, while the body swayed gracefully and the arms were waved from side to side. All the dancing which I saw was rather quiet and graceful, but they told us that when they got warmed up at a great dance they went at it with tremendous vigor, throwing off their garments to the waist. The dance which accompanies the song sung by the children to the aurora, however, is more violent. The dancer clenches his fists and, bending his elbows, strikes them against the sides of his body, keeping time to the song and stamping vigorously with the right foot, springing up and down with the left knee (see Fig. 373, from a sketch by the writer).
We never heard of any of the licentious festivals or orgies described by Egede496 and Kumlien.497
The festivals of the eastern Eskimo appear to be less formal and elaborate than those in the west, consisting simply of singing and dancing.498