Fig. 307 (No. 89775 [1250] from Utkiavwĭñ) is a peculiar implement, the only one of the kind that we saw. It is a shovel, 17 inches long, made of a whale’s scapula, with the anterior and posterior borders cut off straight so as to make it 13¼ inches broad, and the superior margin beveled off to an edge. The handle is made by flattening the neck of the scapula and cutting through it a large horizontal elliptical slot, below which the end of the scapula is worked into a rounded bar 1 inch in diameter. The cutting around this slot appears new, and red ocher has been rubbed into the crevices. On the other hand, the beveling of the digging edge appeared to be old. Though colored with red ocher, the edge is gapped as if from use, and there are fragments of tundra moss sticking to it. It is probably an old implement “touched up” for sale. We did not learn whether such tools were now generally used. This may have been a makeshift or an individual fancy.
Fig. 307.—Snow shovel made of a whale’s scapula.
Fig. 308.—Snow pick.
Fig. 308 (No. 89521 [1249] from Utkiavwĭñ) is another peculiar tool of which we saw no other specimen. It appears to be really an old implement and was said to have been used for digging or picking in the snow. It is a stout sharp-pointed piece of bone, 3 inches long, inserted in the end of a piece of a long bone of some animal, 4.7 inches long and about 1½ wide, which serves as a haft.
