Fig. 462. Old ulo with top of handle broken off from Cape Broughton, Davis Strait. (Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin.) 1/1
In preparing the skin the women spread it over a piece of whalebone (asimautang), a small board, or a flat stone, and sit down before it, resting on their knees, the feet bent under the thighs. They hold the skin at the nearest edge and, pushing the ulo forward, remove the blubber from it and deposit the latter in a small tub which stands near the board. As they proceed to the opposite end of the skin, the finished part is rolled up and held in the left hand.
Fig. 463. Fragment of an ulo blade of slate. (Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin. IV A 6714.) 1/1
Fig. 464. Ulo handle from recent grave. (National Museum, Washington. 34137.)
If the skin is to be used with the hair on it, the tough membrane (mami) which covers the inner side is removed in the same way as the blubber and, after it has been carefully patched up and holes have been cut all around the edge, is stretched over a gravelly place or on snow by means of long pegs (pauktun), which hold it a few inches above the ground, thus allowing the air to circulate underneath it. The skin itself is washed and rubbed with gravel, snow, or ice and every hole made by the bullet or by the spear or in preparing it is sewed up. It very seldom happens that the women in preparing it damage the skin or even the thin mami. It is particularly difficult to split the skin near a hole. First they finish the work all around it and then carefully sever the membrane at its edge. The skin is dried in the same way as the membrane. In the early part of spring, though it may still be very cold, a few choice young sealskins are dried on snow walls which face to the south. In order thoroughly to dry a sealskin one fine warm spring day is needed. If the Eskimo are greatly in need of skins they dry them in winter over the lamps. A frame is made of four poles, lashed together, according to the size of the skin. A thong passes through the slits along its edge and around the frame, keeping the skin well stretched. Thus it is placed over the lamps or near the roof of the hut. However, it is disagreeable work to dry the skins inside the huts, and, as they are much inferior to those which are dried on the ground, the Eskimo avoid it if they can. When so prepared the sealskins are only fit for covering tents, making bags, &c.; they are far too hard to be used for clothing, for which purpose the skin of yearlings is almost exclusively used. The young seals, having shed for the first time, have a very handsome coat, the hair being of a fine texture and much longer than in older animals. From the middle of May until late in summer their skins are most suitable for the manufacture of summer clothing, but it is necessary to protect the carcasses of the killed animals from the burning rays of the sun as soon as possible or the skin would be quickly spoiled.