19?> REI'ORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 19110. 



BetwoiMi tho sh:irp(Mi('d stick or l)()iio. which wounds l)y pioi'cino- and 

 whic'li is the fundanuMital device of iill liinceolate weapons, and the 

 harpoon, thei-e are one or two intermediate forms among the Eskimo 

 usually associated with the harpoon. They may be called the hinged 

 lance head and the detachable lance head. In the first named the ivory 

 or bone piece, into the front of which the leaf -shaped blade is set, is at 

 its other extremity hinged to the foreshaft, like the loose shaft of a 

 whale harpoon. 'Jlie detachable lance head has a handle or tang of 

 wood about a foot in length and less than an inch in diametei". On 

 the front is set a leaf-shaped or a triangular blade, and the conical base 

 of the tang tits into a socket in the end of the heavy shaft. In some 

 examples there is an ivory barl) projecting from the handle near the 

 blade, which is a spear characteristic, but in this instance it was 

 designed to retrieve the lance head and not the animal. E. W. Nelson 

 figurjes and describes a great variety of these.' He says in relation to 

 them that they are used when the seal or walrus has been disabled so 

 that it can not keep out of reach of its pursuers, and the hunter pad- 

 dles up close alongside and strikes the animal, driving the detachable 

 head in its entire length. The head remains in the animal, and the 

 huntei" immediately tits another point into the shaft and repeats the 

 blow, thus inserting as many of the barbed heads as possible, until the 

 animal is killed or the supply of points exhausted. Everj^ hunter has 

 his" private mark cut on these points, so that, when the aniiual is 

 secured, each is enabled to reclaim his own. These lances are compan- 

 ions of harpoons, and examples will be shown in their proper 

 connection. 



The manner of functioning with the harpoon will be considered only 

 incidentally here, inasmuch as there is abundant literature on the su))- 

 ject prepared bj' those who have been eyewitnesses of its action (see 

 frontispiece). For the Eskimo the student may consult Dall (1877), 

 Holm (1SS7). Boas (1888), Turner (1894), Murdoch (1892), and Nelson 

 (1899). The older writings are abundantly quoted in these, and the 

 titles of authorities for the western P^skimo will })e found in H. H. 

 Bancroft (1874-187()). It is with pleasure here acknowledged that the 

 careful observations of these explorers on the spot haN'e made possible 

 tills comparative study. 



I'AHTS OF THE irARPOOX. 



The fundamental t)r ideal parts of the harpoon are head, loose shaft, 

 foi-eshaft, shaft, ic(^ pick, line, andiloat. These parts rarely all coexist 

 in a single specimen, but the Eskimo have them all on their ^•arious 

 harpoons, while each part also takes on a nuiltitude of forms and itself 

 is often quite complex. Besides thes(> fundamiMital parts, there are 

 also a number of accessories, which will be considered in their places. 



'The Eskimo al)ont Bering Strait, 1S99, ]>]>. 145-148, pi. LVii. 



