170 



ESKIMO HARPOON FROM GREENLAND. 



Hc2 a - 



2 is drawn from a specimen of the latter in the National Museum, 

 It will be seen that the only difference in plan of 

 construction between the two weapons is that in 

 the Greenland harpoon the head fits into a cleft 

 in the tip of the shank, where it is secured by a 

 pivot, while in the civilized "iron" it is the shank 

 which fits into a groove in the head. The resem- 

 blance is at all events so close that there can be 

 very little doubt that the East Greenland weapon 

 is intended for a copy of the civilized one. The 

 model was probably obtained, as Dr. Rink sug- 

 gests, from a harpoon found in some wreck, or 

 what is perhaps more likely, cut from the carcass of a whale. It is 

 well known that whales have carried harpoons for a great distance from 



where they were struck, even, it is said, 

 from Davis Strait to the Arctic north 

 of Bering Strait. It is a strange fact 

 that of all the Eskimo race, most of 

 whom have been long in contact with 

 civilized whalemen, the isolated East 

 Greenlanders, who could have come 

 across the toggle-iron only by accident, 

 should alone have adopted it as a 

 model. The reason the Eskimos else- 

 where, however, have not adopted the 

 pivoted toggle harpoon is probably be- 

 cause they are satisfied with their own 

 peculiar type of the weapon. This 

 type is nearly universal among the 

 Eskimos (see Fig. 3 for a sufficiently 

 typical representation), and has the 

 head entirely separated from the shaft, 

 but so slung in a loop at the end of the 

 line that when plunged into an animal 

 it becomes detached from the shaft 

 and " toggles" at right angles to the 

 line, which thus performs the functions 

 of the shank in the other two patterns. 

 The Eskimos, generally, are probably 

 right in adhering to this old pattern 

 which, with its stout line of raw-hide, 

 is probably stronger than the East 

 Greenland harpoon with its slender 

 pivot and comparatively weak shank 

 of bone, which lacks the toughness and 

 flexibility of the high grade of wrought iron used for the equally slender 

 shank of the civilized harpoon. 



