ART. 9. HISTORY OF INVENTIONS HOUGH. 27 



SEEIES 3. — FISHHOOKS. • 



Plate 26. 



A fishhook is a device for catching aquatic animals by means of a 

 hook. It is a pointed but not a piercing implement. In its simplest 

 form it is merely a bent piece of hard substance pointed at one end 

 and attached to a rod at the other, becoming a gaff, or to a line and 

 becoming a fishhook, properly so called. The parts of a hook are 

 the fluke, the shank, and, later on, the barb. It is always attached 

 to a line held in the hand or suspended from a rod (in which case 

 its use is called angling) or attached to a fixed rope (becoming then 

 a set line or trawl). The manual part of angling devices are not 

 here considered. In order to entice the fish to take the hook, baits 

 and flies are employed. In the fishhook the two processes of hunt- 

 ing water animals are shown — capture and trapping. With the 

 gaff, fish rake, and all such devices the animal is seized and retrieved 

 involuntarily. This series has not undergone much elaboration ; but 

 in the baited hook, with its accessories, with the lure and with the 

 fly, human ingenuity has been well nigh exhausted. In the end the 

 taking of intelligent and wary fishes with tackle adapted to the 

 habits of the different species becomes a sport in which large sums 

 of money are paid for single outfits. 



No. 1. Fijian fishhool£ consisting of a curved root, with tlie bend pointed for 

 flulie, and a line of coconut fiber fastened to the straighter shank_ 8,674 



No. 2. Fishhooks from Sandwich Islands and from California, made from a 

 single piece of bone or shell. The first named has braided line, 



3,676, 97,828 



No. 3. Plain hooks of metal, Peru. A bit of wire bent, pointed at the shorter 

 end and attached to a line at the other 17,501 



No. 4. Halibut hooks from North Pacific coast of America. Shank bent around 

 so as to form a fluke. The barb is provided by bending in the point of 

 the shank or by lashing on a spindle-shape bone, pointed inward- _ 72,648 



No. 5. Chilkat halibut hook from Alaska, made of a forked stick. The smaller 

 prong acts as shank, with line tied to its middle. An Iron spike lashed 

 to the larger prong acts as a barb. It has for a float a piece of wood 

 carved in shape of a duck. 



No. 6. Polynesian fishhook. Shank of stone or shell, perforated at the top for 

 a line ; fluke of bone or shell, without barb, perforated at the butt and 

 lashed to the shank 9,797, 2,844, 8,894 



No. 7. Eskimo fishhook from Alaska. Stank of bone or stone carved in form 

 of lures ; fluke of metal fixed into the bottom of the shank, 



89,550, 153,461 



No. 8. Tomcod hook, Eskimo, Plover Bay, Siberia. Single barbed lure, as in 

 No. 11 46,264 



No. 9. Fishhooks from North Pacific coast of America. Shanks of whalebone 

 and wood ; flukes of wood or bone, pointed and lashed at a small angle 

 to the bottom of the shank 74.188, 49,172 



