Some of the men have acquired considerable skill in fashioning iron into the required shape. They eagerly stand around anyone who may be at work, and evince the greatest curiosity in anything new.
Fig. 70.—Ivory snow
knife, Koksoagmyut.
Fig. 71.—Back-scratcher,
Koksoagmyut.
The collection contains two of the snow knives referred to above. No. 3067 is a large snow knife, made from the lower portion of the main stem of the horn of the male reindeer. It is simply half of the split horn with the middle scooped out. The length is 12 inches. This form of instrument is used more especially to smooth down the inequalities of the blocks of snow after being placed in position. No. 3140 (Fig. 70) is a large snow knife made of walrus ivory. It is 13 inches long and nearly 2 inches wide for the greater part of the blade, which terminates in a rounded point. The instrument has two edges, and in general appearances resembles a double-edged Roman sword. The handle is cut to fit to the hand.
Among other peculiar implements collected is one represented in Fig. 71 (No. 3555), which is a “back-scratcher.” This instrument consists of a shaft made from a limb of a larch tree. It is 17 inches long and about three-fourths of an inch through, flattened to less than half an inch and tapering toward the end to be held in the hand. On the lower end is a dish-shaped piece of reindeer horn, two and one-eighth inches long and seven-eighths of an inch wide. Through the center of the piece of horn an oblong hole has been cut for the insertion of the shaft or handle. The edges of the horn piece are sharp as can be made. This piece is one-third of an inch thick, and having the sharp edge up is convenient for thrusting down the back to scratch one’s self in places where the hand could not reach on account of thick deerskin clothing. The Eskimo name of the instrument is ku-mé-u-tîk, or that which removes lice.
The steel needles obtained from the traders are kept in a little ivory receptacle of various shapes, two of which are shown in Figs. 72 and 73.