Name & Use
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Materials
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Examining & identifying
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Using
2012
Name & Use
Ralph Apatiki, Sr.: Taawa ukut aatghii qawaagmun atut neghiighhaaneng elngatall liisalghiikut.
(These items that we named were used for birds, long ago when we first became aware.)
Aatqelghiit avleqaghtaaneng.
(They are called avleqeghtat. [bolas].)
Taana avleqaghtaq mumiglleghhiini qerngunun qawaagnun atuuftut.
(Avleqaghtaq is translated – they were used against flocks of birds.)
[…]
Jonn Apassingok: Aamtayaq neghusiqegkiit aagkut sivunemnta.
[…] Tawaten apellghistun entaqun qernguqunghani qawaaget sangwaat metghaat alpat.
(They were used by our ancestors to obtain food. Like everyone said, they were used when there was a flock of birds such as eiders or murres.)
Tamagun milughluki tespaagani legan iglagutqaghtesluki. Tamagun qawaagsimaqut tamaani.
(They would throw them up and the [strings] would become entangled up there. They would catch birds with these back then.)
Materials
Jonn Apassingok: Piighhegkat tawaten ivalumeng uliimakaaftut ukut avleqeghtat […] Uum puungi llangaqa taawa ayveghem ungaganeng. Nemghwaaghluteng ayuqut.
(This set of bolas was also made with braided sinew. […] This one’s handle seems to be of walrus whiskers.
Tightly wound up.)
Angela Larson: Naqamllu ayveghem ggutangi atiigatatki.
(Do they, by any chance, use walrus teeth?)
John Apassingok: Aa entaqun atughaqiit.
(Yes, they probably used them.)
Christopher Koonooka: Kinguliit enkaam Tuugghinkut kinkut uliimaghit spark plug-meng atuqluteng.
(The last ones that Tuugghi made were from used spark plugs.)
Spark plug-elleghqwaaghmeng uliimatkaagut.
(They made them out of used spark plugs.)
John Apassingok: Tugutetwha sangwaat ggutet quutmi atughaqegkangit.
(Walrus ivory or teeth must have been for use on land.)
[…]
Merlin Koonooka: Ukut maaten esghaghyaqeput unaghsighhaaftut. Uqengestaghhaat unaghsit.
(When we saw this a while ago, they are wood. Lightweight wood.)
Llangaqa aagayiisaghqat.
(It seems as though they couldn’t be thrown very far.)
Enkaam piyalghiikut llangaqa meghmi sami angyaami atughqaaluki.
(Then after some thought, we realized that around water or from a boat they might have been used.)
Meghqunllu aagllakayuk qawaak. Qantaghaqun aakayuget.
(Many birds fly over water. They fly overhead close by.)
Enkaam esgha unaghsimeng uliimasiimalghiit.
(Therefore they made these using wood.)
Estamagyaguftutlu ukut.
(There are four [strings].)
[…]
John Apassingok: Pugleghesqelluki unaghsimeng. Angyameng sakun qayakun entaqun tugaghesnaghaqluki.
(Out of wood, so they can float. Perhaps they could easily retrieve them by boat or kayak.)
2001
Examining & identifying
Estelle Oozevaseuk: Avleqaghtaaguk.
(It is bolas.)
Branson Tungiyan: Qiighqameng pinyuut [they are from the Island].
Normally, St. Lawrence Islanders use ivory or bone. It’s surprising to see wooden ones. These have sinew thread. At the end is a group of bird-wing feathers tied together.
Estelle Oozevaseuk: They say with that, they can go straight, something to guide with. And the old women used to braid this [sinew], adding their hair so they can better entangle the birds.
Using
Aron Crowell: Could wooden ones be for use out on the water? These were recorded as being for geese.
Branson Tungiyan: They used a lot of these wooden or ivory ones when the eider ducks were going overland. But I guess the wooden ones are used in the water.
Aron Crowell: How recently have those been used on St. Lawrence Island?
Branson Tungiyan: As late as the late 1950s.
Estelle Oozevaseuk: Yes, younger boys still try to use them.
Some of them would like to learn about how to use them. My brothers, when I was growing up, they always try to use this.
Bill Fitzhugh: Did they carry them in any special way?
Estelle Oozevaseuk: Yes, they put them around their necks.
Branson Tungiyan: It’s easy to get them off whenever you see a flock. We had fun with those because it doesn’t scare the birds away, because there’s no shotgun sounds. So there another group comes. They see a duck going down, and you chase them. But boy, they’re fast too. But we were very able to get them.
Estelle Oozevaseuk: With those?
Branson Tungiyan: Mm-hmm.
Estelle Oozevaseuk: The women liked the ones that had been killed by bolas like that—the birds with no holes, with no wound—because they saved the skins all the time for parkas and other things.
The bola is a throwing weapon for ducks and geese.Hunters whirled a bola overhead and released it into a low-flying flock.The weights wheeled through the air and with the slightest touch would wrap themselves around a bird and bring it down.
Bolas were used all around the Bering Sea and have been found in archaeological sites as early as A. D. 600.Bola strings are made of sinew, and the weights are walrus ivory, bone, or wood.Wooden balls were used over water, because they float.
Bolas lost popularity after shotguns became available in the late 19th century, but Elders who are alive today still used them when they were young.Oldsquaw ducks were one kind of bird they hunted.Roger Silook of Gambell said that sometimes “these birds fly real low and when the moon is shining bright, the men use their bolas to catch them. It is the best exercise I know of . . . .”Bolas were also used for sport; one man would throw his into the air and others would try to hit it with theirs.
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