Il6 FOLLOW THE WHALE 



been infested with whales of many kinds, and from earliest timea 

 the inhabitants of these shores, including those living on the Ameri- 

 can as well as the Asiatic side, have pursued them. Moreover, the 

 practice continued uninterruptedly right up till the arrival of Euro- 

 peans on the west coast of North America, for they found the 

 Amerindians there whaling in a very special manner. This ancient 

 and wholly independent operation provides us with a clear picture 

 of Stone Age whaling such as must have been undertaken by the 

 Koro-pok-guru of Sakhalin, the Kamchadales, Koryaks, Chukchis, 

 and others in northeast Asia in neolithic and later prehistoric times. 

 It answers many of the puzzling questions about this early labor, 

 notably how primitive man devised strong enough equipment to 

 take and handle whales. For instance, as described by eyewitnesses, 

 the Makahs of the Cape Flattery region at the oceanic entrance to 

 Puget Sound in what is now Washington State carried on the job 

 as follows: 



They had large stone or copper harpoons (the copper was prob- 

 ably entirely indigenous and obtained from inland tribes and not 

 from white men, for there is much evidence that the Amerindians 

 were just entering the Age of Copper when the Europeans arrived). 

 The barbs on these harpoons were made of spikes of elk horn which 

 were inserted into holes or grooves along the edges of the harpoon 

 stem, like teeth in a dog's jaw, and then most cunningly bound in 

 with a sort of tape made from the sinews of whales' tails. The 

 whole was coated with a gum made from the sap of a spruce tree. 

 A wonderfully strong and pHant line about thirty feet long was at- 

 tached directly to this harpoon. This was also made of connected 

 and braided whale sinews, and the whole length was then bound 

 around with a thin twine made from shredded bark fibers which 

 had been rolled into a compact strand using the palm of the hand 

 against the inside of the thigh with a certain amount of rosin ap- 

 plied with the fingers of the left hand. Thread for hammocks is 

 still made in this manner in many parts of Central and South Amer- 

 ica, the work being done by the women. 



Copper harpoons had a tubular collar at the back for insertion 

 of the harpoon shaft, but the stone heads were finished oif behind 

 in long, tapering spikes. These were inserted into holes in the front 

 end of the shaft. The shaft was a most ingenious structure, made in 



