Fig. 468 shows some very old stone scrapers found in graves. As the stones are sharpened it is probable that they were used for cleaning the skins. The hole in the right side of the handle is used for the second finger, the grooves on the back for the third and fourth. The bone is fastened to the handle by whalebone straps or thongs.
Fig. 468. Old stone scrapers found in graves.
(National Museum, Washington, a, b, 34083; c, 34084; d, 34085.) ⅔
Skins of Phoca annellata, Phoca cristata, and Phoca grœnlandica are prepared in the same way.
Those which are intended for kayak covers, boots, mittens, quivers, &c. are prepared in a different way. They are either put into hot water or laid in a brook for a few days until the hair begins to loosen. Then both sides are worked with the ulo, in order to clean and shave them. When the hair is removed they are dried and made pliable in the same way as has been described. If it is intended to make the skin as soft as possible it is allowed to become putrid before it is cleansed. Then the hair and the blubber are removed, and afterwards it is left to hang in the sun for a few days until it acquires a light color.
The large ground seal (Phoca barbata) is skinned in a different manner. Its skin is very thick, thicker even than sole leather, and therefore extremely durable and suitable for all sorts of lines, particularly traces, lashings, and harpoon lines, and for soles, drinking cups, and boat covers. This seal is very large, sometimes attaining a length of ten feet. The skin of the back and of the breast dries unequally, and therefore a piece covering the throat and breast is taken out before the rest is skinned, and the parts are dried separately. If it is to be used for lines it is cut by making girdles about six inches in width around the body. The hair and the blubber are removed from these cylindrical rings, from which lines are made by cutting spirally, a strip seventy or eighty feet long being thus obtained. This line is stretched as taut as possible between two rocks, and while drying it undergoes an enormous tension. Before being taken from the rocks the edges are rounded and cleaned with a knife.