Page:Material Culture of the Iglulik Eskimos.djvu/121

hollowing out soapstone vessels, the only one of its kind I have seen. It consists of a roughly shaped handle of antler, in the fore end of Image missingFig. 65.Woman's knife. which is an oblique groove; inserted in this is a short, fairly thick iron blade with a sharp chisel-edge; a piece of sheet brass is wedged into the groove to hold the blade firm; 14.4 cm long. I have seen soapstone powder used for rubbing into fox skins to make them whiter in appearance.

Seal thong is an important product; for its strength and flexibility is it quite indispensable for harpoon lines, lashings on sledges and kayaks and many other places. The seal thong is made in the following manner: The skin of a bearded seal is cut out in a spiral into a long thong, which is then placed in a meat cache until it smells; the blubber and hair are then removed with a sharp knife and the edges rounded and smoothed; it is then hung between Image missingFig. 66.Woman's knife from Parry's Collection. Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh. stones to stretch and dry it, when it is further smoothed with a sharp knife; when it is dry, it is taken down and must then be softened by chewing before it can be used. If it is to be used as a walrus line, it must be stretched and again softened several days in succession. If a thong is split up for whip lashes, binding cords, etc, one end of it is made fast and it is split with a sharp knife, the cut being made towards the worker, the thumb following along the thong and feeling whether the strip cut off is suitable and even.

The Cape York Eskimos whom we had with us were sarcastic about the Aiviliks because they wound their implements “against the sun" which, they considered, was "mocking nature, which they did not seem to know here". And "they stirred their tea against the sun".