ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 107 



out specifying the variety ; but Mr. Murdoch's own collection con- 

 tained three types : lances, darts, and harpoons. Of lances there 

 were three kinds, the whale, the walrus, and the deer lance. Of 

 darts there were several varieties, all carried by the throwing stick, 

 among them the bird or pronged dart (with or without side prongs), 

 the feather dart, the float dart, the bridle or martingale dart, and 

 the harpoon dart. Of harpoons Mr. Murdoch could exhibit several 

 varieties. The most interesting was the retriever. The Eskimo 

 standing on the edge near thin ice shoots the seal in the water, and 

 after breaking a channel with the ice-pick on one end, launches 

 the whole implement at the animal, holding on to a line attached to 

 the harpoon. By this means he could draw the dead body to the 

 thick ice.' 



Mr. Murdoch, in answer to a question of Dr. Bessels, said the 

 seal-nets appear to have never been made from whalebone. Nets 

 of this material with small mesh are used for taking whitefish, &c. 

 The seal-net is a comparatively modern invention. Nikawaalu, an 

 intelligent middle-aged native, full of tradition, says " Adrani (be- 

 yond the memory of man now living) there were no nets and they 

 killed seals with the spear (una) only." No work that requires 

 hammering or pounding on wood must be done during the whaling 

 season, and even rapping with the knuckles on wood is bad. They 

 asked us to leave off work on our block-house in the spring of 1882, 

 saying it would drive off the whales. The whaling was a failure 

 that season. 



Mr. Murdoch also stated the following myths • 



A'selu, the mythical dog, was tied to a stake. He gnawed him- 

 self loose, and went into the house where he found an Eskimo 

 women, with whom he had sexual intercourse. From this woman 

 sprang the human race. 



A "doctor" starting on a fishing trip in the fall gave tobacco to 

 the dead man at the cemetery, breaking off tiny bits and throwing 

 them into the air. When he arrived at the river he also gave to- 

 bacco in the same way to the demon Ticun-a, saying "Tuuna, Tu- 

 una, I give you tobacco ! Give me plenty offish." 



They said the aurora (kiolya) was bad, that there was danger of 

 its striking a man in the back of the neck and killing him. Con- 

 sequently, in coming to and fro from the village after dark in twos 

 or threes (they never dare go alone), one carries a drawn knife or 

 dagger to thrust at the Aurora and drive it away. Frozen dogs' 

 excrement thrown at the aurora will also drive it off. 



