950 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1897. 



points of bone and of ivory, inserted in short handles of wood, bone, 

 and ivory, the lower end pointed for insertion in a lance shaft for use 

 as harpoons, are in coniinon use anion^' the modern Eskimos. This 



short handle can be detached, 

 thus making, if need be, a knife 

 of the implement. 



An illustration of large blades, 

 more or less leaf-shaped, and 

 which, if alone, would be taken 

 for si)earheads, is shown in fig. 

 103, where such an implement of 

 nephrite, beautifully wrought and 

 finely polished, is inserted in a 

 short handle, evidently for use 

 as a knife. The illustrations, 

 shown in Plate 44, of Eskimo 

 specimens from Hotham Inlet, 

 Alaska, collected by Lieut. Com- 

 mander G. M. Stouey, U. S. N., are 

 still more pertinent. Figs. I and 

 2 have blades of chert or horn- 

 stone of the usual leaf shape. 

 Fig. 2 is handled for use as a knife 

 by being inserted edgewise in a 

 handle of wood. Fig. 1 is inter- 

 esting, for its leaf- shaped char- 

 acteristics are more easily iden- 

 tified, while its handle, instead of 

 being of wood or fastened with 

 bitumen or asphaltum, as have 

 been nearly all others, is made of 

 osier wrapped back and forth 

 over a part of the upper edge of 

 the blade, catching upon the 

 irregularities of the fiint edge and drawn tight so as to be held firmly 

 In place. This was used as a fish knife, its interstices being yet filled 

 with fish scales. J)r. Mason,' describing this instrument, says: 



There are thousands of pieces of shale, slate, quartzit<', ami other stones in the 

 National Mnseum, which correspond exactly with the blades of the Eskimo woman's 

 knife. These have been fjjathered from village sites, shell heaps, the surface of the 

 soil, from graves, mounds, and Indian camps in countless numbers. * » * jn 

 the matter of attaching the blade to the handle or grip the Eskimo's mother-wit has 

 not deserted her. Manj'^ of the blades are tightly fitted into a socket or groove of 

 the handle. Boas, who lived among the Cumberland (Julf Eskimos, tells us that 

 glue is made of a mixture of seal's blood, a kind of clay, and dog's hair. (Report 

 of the Bureau of Ethnology, VI, p. 526.) 



KNIFK WITH NEPHRITE liLADE, IVOHY HANDLE, 

 AND WOODEN SHEATH. 



Nortou Bay, Alaska. 

 Blatlo, 8J X 21 inches. 



v.. W. Nelson. Cat. Nci. 1761)72, U.S.N.M. 



' The Uln, or Woman's Knife, or the Eskimo. R< port ['. S. National Museum, 1890, 

 pp. 411-417. 



