Northwest History. Alaska. Eskimos.

• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1926
• Subjects: Eskimo; miniatures; Walrus Ivory; Anchorage; Alaska; Indians; toys; kayaks; Yuletide; American cities; Northwest; Pacific > History > 20th century; Arctic; Indian; Pacific; Arctic hare; eskimo*; walrus*
• Online Access: http://content.libraries.wsu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/clipping/id/90780

Eskimo Child Has Fine Toys: Miniatures Of Northland Devices Carved From Walrus Ivory For Youngsters. ESKIMO CHILD HAS FINE TOYS Miniatures of Northland Devices Carved From Walrus Ivory for .Youngsters. ANCHORAGE, Alaska. — Eskimo and Alaskan Indian boys and girl play with the most valuable toys on earth. They are carved from ivory, a product of the northland. Young Eskimo boys have a buzzer something akin to our spinning top. The buzzer is made of a circle of ivory with a wee peg of driftwood fastened in the center. Started whirling by a long stringof reindeer hide it spins for several minutes. Then there is the marvelous bull roarer. This top is made of sections cut from a big walrus tusk with strings of hide run through them. When swinging around through the air this toy roars like the rumble of thunder. Beautiful Toys. They also possess tiny spears and fishhooks cut from walrus bones, small crossbows with ivory tipped arrows, beautiful little kayaks about a foot long, cleverly fashioned from skins and manned with carved ivory hunters. Each one holds a paddle of bone, a bone harpoon, a wee float of seal skin and delicate hide lariats. Little sleds of ivory, only a few inches long, yet perfectly formed, with several ivory dogs hitched with reindeer hide harness, are treasured possessions of Eskimo boys. Deer, whales, bears, seals--all sorts of queer fish and birds--are carved from pure ivory and given to the children at Yuletide. Beautiful little ivory birds of the far north, penguin and the murre, are cut so delicately from ivory as to astonish the examiner. There are ivory thimbles for the girls, tiny ivory pins for fur belts, shopping bags of white fur from the arctic hare. Makes Terrific Noise. Some boys have a marvelous drum made of a thin strip of whale bone bent to form a circle. Both sides are covered with tightly stretched shark skin. Two little walrus bones are drum sticks and no snow igloo can contain the noise that radiates from the instrument. Many of these toys reach Atmerican cities, but are sold in curio shops and are far too expensive scarce for general distribution.