206 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1!»00. 



Here also oi-iuitiated the whole scheme of knots and s])liees, as will 

 })e al)undantly shown in the illustrations that follow. The Eskimo 

 made a ])utton or frog" on the end of a rawhide line }>y cutting a slit 

 near the end and doubling the end back through 

 the slit. They were extremely neat and skillful 

 in fa.stening ott' lashings. Boas and Murdoch 

 I T.^/ R « have given special attention to the Eskimo knots. 



' \ / 1 With the lin(% in its highest estate, go certain 



SlL^ "^—^ /.f accessories, such as the eyelet, for making fast 

 w f to a peg on the shaft (tig. H). the line rack on the 



kaiak, and a multitude of ingenious inventions 

 which Nelson calls "detachers," since the}^ make 

 it possible in the frozen Arctic for the hunter to 

 take his apparatus apart under the most trying- 

 circumstances. 



In order to prevent the line from getting out of 

 order, a swivel is sometimes used. One broug'ht 

 from Cumberland Sound by Kumlien and de- 

 scribed by him is represented in lig. 4. There 

 was a ball in the hollow body of this instrument, 

 which could not be pulled through any of the 

 openings. One line was fastened to this ball, 

 passing through the central hole, and another 

 one to the top of the swivel. A simpler pattern 

 is represented by Boas,' in which the ball in the socket would ])e a 

 spherical knot on the end of the line. 



FloaU. — The sealskin bag used as a Hoat on the end of the line of 

 the harpoon for killing whale and beluga is in Una- 

 leet rigaii uk, bag; in Malemut Aygt niik; the float, 

 in both dialects, is Oa tuk. Nelson describes two 

 sizes. The smaller one is fastened to the line after 

 the beluga has become unable to struggle much. 

 The large float which has tired the beluga is at the 

 end of the line. This small one is gradually slipped 

 nearer by the man in the kaiak until it is distant 

 4 or 5 feet, when the conp is made and the prej'^ 

 secured. Boas describes and figures examples from 

 Cumberland Sound (figs. 5, 6). 



By far the largest floats in the U. S. National 

 Museum collection are those of the Aht or Nutka 

 whalers ofl' Vancouver Island. The skin of a seal 

 is taken ofl' whole, making- a float 3 feet long and 2 feet wide. 



Line rack. — Of the rack on the kaiak in front of the hunter (Unaleet, 

 Achal ook; Malemut, A shal odk) for holding the rawhide line, Nelson 



Fig. 3. 



KYEI.ET ON HARPOON LINE 



Cumberland Sound. 



Collected by Ludwig Kuinlien 



Cat. No. 34123, U.S.N.M. 



After Franz Boas. 



Fig. 4. 

 LINE SWIVEI,. 



Cumberlanri Sound. 



Collected by Ludwij; Kum 



lien. 



Cat. No. 34121. U.S.N.M. 



Alter Franz Boas. 



^ Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, p. 481. 



