AHORICilNAL AMERICAN HAKPODNS. 



218 



as there is hope, but j^ives way to despair when natui'o even by her 

 riches shuts the door against invention. This part 

 of the South American Indian s equipment was not 

 of a high order, since his patetit which he received 

 for his cunning was so meager. 



Fiirgian tyj^e. — About the Straits of MageHan are 

 tliree linguistic families of Indians — the Onan, the 

 Alikulufan. and the Yahgan. The first named are 

 believed to be closely related to their neighbors, the 

 Patagonians of the mainland. The other two fam- 

 ilies make canoes of bark and live on sea products. 

 Their inventions, aside from their ingenious canoes, 

 are not of a high order. Since the days of Magellan. 

 15:^0. until now. they have been spectators of Cau- 

 casian activities, yet they adhere to their ancient 

 forms and are among the lowliest of the tribes now 

 on the earth. 



In the Fuegian barbed harpoons the transition 

 from the spear is inuuediate, for it is only a matter 

 of a short piece of sinew string or leathei- thong- 

 uniting the head with the shaft. If the bar))ed head 

 of bone be lirmly lixed in the split end of the shaft, 

 the implement is a spear; if the barbed head fit 

 loosel}" by its butt into a socket or, what is really 

 the case, into the riven end of the shaft, and is 

 joined to the shaft by a short cord or thong, as is 

 shown in tig. VI (Cat. No. 79091, U.S.N.M.). the 

 implement is the most primitive of harpoons. The 

 transition is not onh' immediate but easy. \Yhen 

 the end of the shaft is merely split to hold the tang 

 of the long bone spearhead, it is impossible to make 

 a rigid joint by any amount of wrapping. 



In the examples studied foi- this paragraph, col- 

 lected ])}• the U. S. Fish Commission steamer Allxi- 

 tf'oss^ the spearheads have man}^ serrate barbs on one 

 edge of the blade, and the 'tangs, instead of being- 

 smooth and tapering, are roughly notched to prevent 

 the head from being drawn out of the end of the 

 shaft (Plate '2). In like manner the harpoon heads of 

 bone have tapering points of greater or less length, 

 with two large barbs, one on each side, or one barb 

 projecting near the base. In spears the tang is not 

 fitted neatly into a socket at the end of the sliaft. 

 but th(^ latter is merely split and bound with sinew 

 or thong; but the open socket for the harpoon head is wrouglit with 



FiK. 1-'. 



Fl-E(;1AN BAi'.liKIl 



UAKPOdN. 



Collected by Thomas ami 



Leslie Lee. Cat. Xo. 



7M31. U.S.S.M. 



