Fig. 48.—Sandstone lamp.
Fig. 47 (No. 89879) [872] is a typical house lamp, though rather a small specimen. It is carved out of soft gray soapstone and is 17 inches long. The back is nearly vertical, while the front flares strongly outward. The back wall is cut down vertically inside with a narrow rounded brim and the front curves gradually in from the very edge to the bottom of the cavity, which is 1½ inches deep in the middle. The posterior third of the cavity is occupied by a flat, straight shelf with a sloping edge about 0.7 inch high. About a third of one end of the lamp has been broken off obliquely and mended, as usual, with stitches. There are two of these neatly countersunk in channels. The specimen has been long in use and is thoroughly incrusted with oil and soot. No. 89880 [1731] (Fig. 48) is peculiar, from the material of which it is made. This is a coarse, gritty stone, rather soft, but much more difficult to work than the soapstone. It is rudely worked into something the same shape as the type, but has the cavity but slightly hollowed out, without a shelf, and only a little steeper behind than in front. The idea at once suggests itself that this lamp, which is very old and sooty, was made at Point Barrow and was an attempt to imitate the imported lamps with stone obtained from the beds reported by Lieut. Ray in Kulugrua. There is, of course, no means of proving this supposition. There is no mention of any material except soapstone being made into lamps by the Greenlanders or other eastern Eskimo, but the lamps from Kadiak and Bristol Bay in the National Museum are made of some hard gray stone.
Fig. 49.—Traveling lamp.
Fig. 49, No. 56673 [133], is a traveling lamp, and is a miniature of the large lamp, No. 89879 [872], 8.7 inches long, 4.2 wide, and 1 inch high, also of soapstone and without a shelf. The front also is straighter, and the whole more roughly made. No. 89882 [1298] is another traveling lamp, also of soapstone, and made of about half of a large lamp. It has been used little if at all since it was made over, as the inside is almost new while the outside is coated with soot and grease. It is 6.3 inches long. No. 89881 [1209] is a miniature of No. 89880, 8.1 inches long, and is made of the same gritty stone.
Fig. 50.—Socket for blubber holder.