Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-06-24

breeze DlOW. Durlng lnls period ana whlle the
whaling is going on no pounding must be
done in the village and it is not allowable even
to rap with the knuckes on wood for fear Of
frightening away the whales.
A whaling boat always carries a number Of
amulets to insure success. These may be wolf
skulls, dried ravens, the vertebra OF a seal or
the tip of a red fox's tail. This last is consid-
cred very powerful charm. In one case
spoken OF the captain and the harpooner wore
illets of mountain sheepskin, with little crys-
tai or stone image OF a whale dangling at each
side Of the face. Both wore little stone whales
attached to the breast of the jacket. Similar
customs are followed in Greenland, where it is
said that the natives dress themselves in the
best manner for a whaling expedition, because,
according to the savings Of the sorcerers. il
any one were to wear dirty clothes the game
would escape, or. if it were dead. 1T would
sink"
When these Eskimo Of Point Barrow are on
the watch for whales the great harpoon is kept
always rugged and resting in a crotch Of ivory
in the bow Of the boat. When the big game is
sighted they paddle up as close as possible, and
the harpooner thrusts harpoon into him. The
other boats, il any are near, join in the chase
until the animal ia wearied that he can be
lauced, or a favorable opportunity occurs for
shooting him. All boats in sight at the time
a whale is struck are entitled to share OF the
whalebone.
| As soon as the whale is killed he is towed up
to the edge OF the land foe. and everybody
standing on the edge OF the ice begins hacking
away at the flesh and blubber some OF them
/ going to work more carefully to cut out the
| whalebone. The cutting in" 10 managed
without order control, everybody who can
be on the spot being apparently entitled to all
| the meat, blubber and skin he or she can cut
I off.
| FISHING THROUGH THE ICE.
For fishing through the ice q line is used with
a sinker, and, perhaps, two ''jiggers" Of walrus
lvory-small elongated pieces Of warus tooth,
to which hooks are attached. The white ivory
'tggers' attract the fish. which them
and are hooked by an upward jerk Of the line.
Fer this kind of fishing which begins about
February and continues until the ice has be-
gun to melt, mole foot In diameter is made
with an ice pick, the fragments of ice being
| dipped out with a ong-handled whalebone
scoop The line is let down through the hole
until the 'iiggers' hang a few inches from the
bottom. The fisherman holds in his left hand
! the dipper above mentioned. with which he
keeps the hole clear of the quickly forming ice
! crystals, while with his right hand he Jerks
! the line continually up and down. When fish
| Is brought to the surface il Is detached from
the barbIess hook with Jerk and almost in
stantly freezes solid. When fish are plentiful
they are caught as fast as they can be hauled up,
sometimes one on each ''jgger."
The boFs use sort OF snare for catching
sitting birds. This is simply a strip of whale
bone made into a slipnoose, which is set over
the eggs and fastened to the ground. 80 that
the fowl is caught by the leg. contrivance
known in other parts of the worlds employed
for the capture o gulls. 1t is simply little
stick sharpened at both ends and fastened to
one end Of string ak feet long, the other