28 PROCEEDIisTGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. 60. 



No. 10. Eskimo fishhooks from Alaska with two or more points of bone 40,264 



No. 11. Eskimo fishhooks from Alaska in which a barbed spreader has a number 



of composite hooks attached 44,370 



No. 12. Eskimo and Polynesian fishhooks showing a primitive form of the barb ; 

 shank of wood or shell ; fluke of bone or tortoise shell lashed on the 



bottom of the shank 126,984 



No. 13. Barbed fishhooks, of shell and metal, with lure 89,545 



No. 14. The latest pattern, with steel hooks and artificial bait. 



SERIES 4. — SINKERS. 



Plate 27. 



A sinker is a heavy object attached to a fishing line or net in order 

 to bring the hook into the area of the animal or to hold the line 

 or the net upright in the water. The earliest type of the sinker is 

 a common stone. Such forms would naturally be chosen as would 

 not slip from the line in the water, so notched stones were used. 

 Most savage tribes have discovered that by a peculiar method of 

 lashing they can fix any heavy object in a sling to serve for a sinker. 

 Among civilized peoples metal sinkers of various forms, which in- 

 clude also the characteristics of a lure to entice the animal toward 

 the net or bait, have been substituted for the simpler boulder. In a 

 large collection of sinkers will be found special forms for special 

 fishes, or environments, or appliances. For some uses the sinker 

 must rest on the bottom, as an anchor ; for others it drags, as in the 

 drail ; for others it is suspended in the water simply as a weight. As 

 with other fishing devices, so with this, there has been a refinement 

 coincident with culture progress. The first fishermen used no lines 

 or sinkers, the latest exhibits a new style of sinker for each kind 

 of fish. 



No. 1. Pieces of turtle shell tied to a cord, forming a crude sinker. Bengal, 

 India 103,312 



No. 2. Stone sinkers, rough or slightly modified by pecking, lashed in slings 

 of rawhide. Alaskan Eskimos 63,737,63,744 



No. 3. Stone sinkers notched or grooved for purposes of attachment- 42,920, 17,837 



No. 4. Polished stone sinkers or plummets grooved or notched for suspension. 

 These objects could easily have been fastened in a sling of cord or 

 bark. From mounds of the Ohio Valley 7,790, 42,491 



No. 5. Sinkers, ivory or stone, perforated for attachment to a line or net. In 

 one example there is a suggestion of a lure in the form of a small 

 fish 63,377, 44,935, 56,577 



No. 6. Eskimo sinkers of bone or ivory, carved in the form of fishes to act as 

 lures. The Eskimos are clever in making sinkere of this kind to imitate 

 various small animals on which the larger ones prey 38, 277, 33,194 



No. 7. Eskimo sinkers of bone and colored stones, perforated for suspension. 

 Bottom, of bright colors to attract the fish, ingeniously riveted or 

 lashed to the upper portion. One example is perforated for two sets 

 of hooks 46,313, 44,277 



