Notes

FROM CARD: "OF SOAPSTONE, CRESCENTIC IN SHAPE, BOTTOM NEARLY FLAT, SIDES VERTICAL. THE RESERVOIR IS SHALLOW AND IS DIVIDED INTO TWO PORTIONS BY A CANAL CUT ACROSS THE MIDDLE, AND THE WALL OF THE RESERVOIR IS CONTINUED AROUND THE ENDS, FORMING A NARROW CANAL AT THE END OF THE BRIDGE. THE WICK EDGE IS SLIGHTLY CURVED, AS IS THE RULE IN ALL ESKIMO LAMPS. THIS SMALL LAMP, WHICH IS CALLED A "WINTER TRAVELING LAMP," WAS USEFUL ONLY FOR GIVING A TEMPORARY LIGHT, AND WAS CARRIED IN THE INTEREST OF THE SMOKERS. LENGTH, 5 INCHES, WIDTH, 2 1/8 INCHES; HEIGHT AT FRONT, 1/2 INCH; AT BACK, 3/4 INCH. ILLUS. IN USNM REPT, 1896; PL. 10, FIG. 1; P. 1048."Source of the information below: Inuvialuit Pitqusiit Inuuniarutait: Inuvialuit Living History, The MacFarlane Collection website, by the Inuvialuit Cultural Resource Centre (ICRC), Inuvik, N.W.T., Canada (website credits here http://www.inuvialuitlivinghistory.ca/posts/12 ), entry on this artifact http://www.inuvialuitlivinghistory.ca/items/254 , retrieved 12-30-2019: Small lamp carved from soapstone. It is crescent shaped in outline, and there is a raised wick ledge with a central division in the bowl of the lamp. On the sides are two incised lines that encircle the lamp. The Smithsonian Institution's catalogue card identifies this as a travelling lamp, includes a comment that this lamp was 'useful only for temporary light, and was carried in the interest of the smokers.' More information here: http://www.inuvialuitlivinghistory.ca/item_types/37: Lamps carved from soapstone were used for lighting and heating dwellings. Oil placed in the shallow basin was soaked up by a moss wick and set alight. Lamps used in sod houses ranged up to a metre in length. Smaller lamps around 20 cm in length were commonly used to illuminate and warm up snow houses when travelling in winter.