ABORIGINAL AMERICAN HARrOONS. 203 



materials have uu)ro or loss of spongy core or arc hollow. In such 

 examples the butt is initered oft" with the acute angle at the l)arbs. and 

 then scooped out and dished about the socket. 



Blade line. — This is wanting- in a great many exani])les. It is a 

 little twine of sinew extending from the inner left-hand corner of the 

 blade, where it is looped into a small perforation. ))ackwai-d to the 

 tirst wrapping of the leather sling or leader. 



Leach r or xling. — The toggle sling is a loop of rawhide thong or 

 sinew twine, a foot, more or less, in length, passing through the line 

 hole of the toggle head at one end and at the other end attached to the 

 main line In' means of a splice, toggle, or clasp, to be described later. 

 The two ends of this sling are spliced or joined after the neatest and 

 most elal)()rate Eskimo styles. At one or more points the two sides 

 of the loop are carefully united by wrapping (tig. 83). In the collec- 

 tions of the U. S. National Museum the smaller harpoon heads with 

 leaders are accompanied with sticks of pine wood on w^hich the appa- 

 ratus is kept stretched when not in action (tig. S-i). In the great har- 

 poons, as will be learned in the description of the line, there is no 

 leader or sling to the toggle head, w^hich is hinged at once onto a ))end 

 in the end of the main line. Without the hinging line the movalde 

 head is only a rankling device. For instance, the loose head of man}- 

 South American arrows, formed of a socketed bone of a monke}', 

 remains in the wound, but not being attached to a line for retrie\'ing 

 it is not a harpoon head. The step between the two, how-ever, is but 

 a short one. 



IjMjse xhaft. — The part of a toggle harpoon which, at its forward 

 end, fits into the socket of the head and in some way is hinged or 

 joined to the foreshaft at its hinder end, as seen in figs. 2, -iS, is called 

 the loose shaft. The two Aarieties are the spindle-shaped and the 

 conoidal. The former is joined on to the leader or sling of the toggle 

 head by a running loop or grommet (fig. 83); the latter is strapped to 

 the end of the shaft b}- a rawhide thong, and makes a ball-and-socket 

 joint (fig. 49). In either case the body of the loose shaft is perforated 

 with one or more holes. When the toggle head is in place on the 

 loose shaft the line is drawn taut, so that the loop or bone eyelet on 

 the line may be l)uttoned over its peg on the shaft (fig. 79). 



Writers on the Eskimo harpoon say that the kneejoint })ctween the 

 loose shaft and the foreshaft is to prevent the accidental ])reaking of 

 the shaft. Captain Spicer gives additional functions to this structure 

 of the implement. He says that it aids in the shipping and unshipping 

 of the toggle head with reference to the loose shaft after the eyelet on 

 the line is over its peg on the shaft. When an Eskimo hunter would 

 prepare his harpoon for striking, he puts the eyelet which is attached 

 to the line over the peg on the shaft, sets the loose shaft at an angle 

 in the socket of the shaft, puts the toggle head in position, and 



