ABOEIGINAL AMERICAN HARPOONS. 205 



spec'iiil paper. The .series l)egins with the plain .shaft, and inchides 

 the haud-rest t\^pe, the throwing- .stick type, the Giliak long pole and 

 floating-head type, the east Greenland .sled-point type, the east Green- 

 land deep-sea shaft type, and the Amazon type, in which the throwing 

 .stick is cast overl)oard. 



Hv the function of retrieving is meant recovering the game after it 

 has been struck. For this purpose the shaft is in many cases thrown 

 overboard, and, being attached by one end of the line, while the other 

 is tied to the harpoon head in the animal, acts as a drag and a buoy to 

 impede the progress of the animal and to show its position. 



Ice ^)lcl\. — On the butt end of the harpoon shaft may be found, in 

 arctic examples, a long ivor^^ pick for enlarging a hole in the ice in 

 order -to remove the game. This is replaced with a boat-hook arrange- 

 ment in others. T3'pes of the butt end of the shaft exist in the forms 

 following: 



1. The plain butt, without function. 



2. The feathered end, akin to the arrow. 



3. The socketed end, for throwing stick. 



4. The Greenland type, with ivor}" feathering. 



5. The pick. 



6. The carved pick, Nunivak type, on lances with loo.se heads. 

 Nansen ^ traces the elaborate Greenland harpoon shaft, with its many 



accessories, thus: 



1. The Indian arrow, with its variety of feathering. 



2. The feathered harpoon darts in southeastern Alaska. 



3. Farther north the disappearance of the feather and the occurrence 

 of the small bladder on the shaft. 



4. The harpoon, with line and skin float, the last named being de- 

 tached from the shaft and attached to the head. 



Line. — The line of the harpoon also has had its peculiar elaboration, 

 answering to external exigencies and opportunities on the one hand, 

 and to the ingenuity of the savage on the other. The Fuegian sinew 

 thread, a few inches long, is far away from the Greenland whale line, 

 and a series would take some such order as the following: 



1. The Fuegian type, short sinew cord tied around both the head 

 and the shaft. 



2. The western Eskimo type, line tied to head and middle of shaft. 



3. Martingale type, attached to shaft in two places. 



4. With skin float, head fastened to line. 



5. Entireh' separate, with ivory or bone toggles for fastening to the 

 leader strap of the head and to the float. 



The harpoon line developed a deal of ingenuity in the textile art. 

 Shredded sinew, thread, twine, and braid or sennit are in demand 

 constantly. Rawhide line in great varietj^ is also a necessity. 



^Across Green Uun I, London, 1890, 11, p. 2(j0. 

 NAT :Mrs I'.MH) 14 



