travels and made their iglus secure against the
storms of the coming winter. So, with caches full of fish, and houses
packed with trade goods after a successful season at the southern
camps, they must wait until the shifting ice pack settles and the
winter hunting begins. Such enforced inaction is irksome to the
Eskimo, who does not partake of the stolidity of the Indian, but like
a nervous child must be continually employed or amused. So this
festival, which is of a purely social character, has grown up.

My first intimation that there was a celebration taking place was
being attracted by a tremendous uproar in the native village just as
darkness had fallen. Suspecting that the Eskimo were making merry over
a native brew, called "hoosch,"[14] I slipped down to the village to
see what was the matter. I was met by the queerest procession I have
ever seen. A long line of men and boys, entirely naked and daubed over
with dots and figures of mingled oil and charcoal,[15] were proceeding
from house to house with bowls in their hands. At each entrance they
filed in, howling, stamping and grunting, holding out their dishes
until they were filled by the women of the house.

All this time they were careful to keep their faces averted so that
they would not be recognized. This is termed the "Tutuuk" or "going
around." Returning to the kasgi they washed off their marks with
urine, and sat down to feast on their plunder.

[14] This is a liquor distilled from flour and molasses. In the
operation an old cask and a gun barrel are used. The liquid is
fermented with sour dough and allowed to distill through the barrel.
The Eskimo had no liquor prior to the advent of the whalers, who
supplied them with the materials and probably taught them the art of
distilling. The U. S. Revenue Cutter "Bear" has been active in
breaking up the practice. In 1909, six illicit stills were seized on
the Diomede Islands.

[15] The first night of the feast the men and older boys meet in the
kasgi, and two boys named the Raven (Tulukauguk) and the Hawk
(Teiburiak) mix the paint and assist the men in ornamenting
themselves.

The next day the men gathered again in the kasgi and the Aiyaguk or
Asking Stick was constructed. It was made by a man especially chosen
for the purpose. It was a slender wand about three feet long with
three globes made of thin strips of wood hanging by a strip of
o['k]linok from the smaller end. It was carr