36 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



used, provided with a point which became detached from its 

 immediate union with the shaft on entering its victim, a con- 

 nection however being still secured by a long intervening line. 

 The Eskimo harpoon is a further development of the same 

 device : it is distinguished from all others by the introduction 

 of an additional movable segment between the detachable 

 point and the shaft. This intermediate piece is articulated with 

 the shaft by a ball-and-socket joint, and held in position by 

 two stout thongs of reindeer hide which pass through holes 

 drilled in it and the shaft. 



If now we turn to the Magdalenian implements, we must 

 admit that a large number of those most characteristic of the 

 Eskimo are not to be found among them. The sledge, the 

 kayak, and the fully developed harpoon are all missing, and 

 since in each of these bone or ivory occurs as an essential part, 

 they should have left some trace of their existence, had the 

 Magdalenians possessed them. This argument does not apply, 

 however, to the birch-bark canoe and wooden sledge of the 

 Athapascans and Algonkians, for, as we have seen, wood is a 

 perishable material. 



The sledge, the kayak, and the harpoon of the Eskimo are all 

 highly specialised instruments, and we should scarcely expect 

 to find the remote ancestors of the race in full possession of 

 the completely developed Eskimo cult as it now exists. 



When we examine the various kinds of objects which are 

 common to the Eskimo and Magdalenians, we cannot fail to 

 remark a surprising amount of resemblance between them in 

 detail. There is no essential difference between the more 

 primitive Eskimo arrow-straighteners and those of the Magda- 

 lenians; the bone arrow-heads are often strikingly similar, and 

 this similarity extends to those used by the Indians, especially 

 as regards the character of the ownership marks ; the bone 

 hairpins of the Magdalenians may be matched among those of 

 the Eskimo, and the lobate ivory pendants, sometimes heart- 

 shaped, which both races possess, are almost identical in form. 

 These are used by the Eskimo as ornamental appendages to 

 fur bags, " housewives " or clothing. Not much stress can be 

 laid on the bone needles, for these are of almost world-wide 

 distribution, but the bone pins or taapootas seem to be more 

 characteristic. The barbed bone spear-head of the Magdalenian 

 more closely resembles that of the Eskimo than of any other 



