216 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1900. 



lower end of the woodcji tano- there is a projection for a cord which 

 fastened the head to the upper end of a .shaft or reed cane. The lower 

 end of the tang is conical, to fit into the end of the cane. There is a 

 rudeness about the Peruvian and Chilean harpoon heads worthy of 

 attention. The better classes of this ancient people were skillful in 

 many aits. There is in these appliances of capture, therefore, evidence 

 of a humble lishing- caste, or of a tribe not identical with Aymaras 

 and Kechuas. The spirit of invention was not entirel}" wanting" in 

 this area, however, as D and E^ fig. 13, show. The last named is taken 

 from Charles Read's paper in the Journal of the Anthropological 

 Institute (volume xix, page Bo). Side barbs are set on the side of the 

 wooden tang of the head, partly let in, partly' cemented, and in one 

 example served. All the elements here rudely put together will again 

 appear on this same Pacific coast at its northern extremity in their 

 latest elaboration. 



In the Hassler collection of the Field Columbian Museum are barbed 

 harpoons from southern Brazil. The bone of an animal forms the point 

 and a ))arbed piece of hard wood the tang of the head, which is attached 

 by a short piece of rope to the end of the long shaft. In some exam- 

 ples the l)one is socketed and set on the end of the tang; in others a 

 spindle-shaped bone is lashed diagonally to the beveled end of the tang. 

 Attention is here specially invited to the bone which forms the body 

 and blade of this head, l)ecause it is an ideal, if not the real, beginning 

 of all toggle heads of harpoons. A short piece of bone, conical in 

 form, is cut out so as to be sharp in front and cup-shaped in the rear. 

 If this is set on the end of a hard wood foreshaft and driven into the 

 body of a fish or other animal it remains there and rankles. The arrow 

 shaft is withdrawn, but if the bone be tied to the shaft it becomes a 

 retriever. It toggles in the bod^^ of the game. The attachment of 

 spurs at the base of this head brings about the made-up toggle head of 

 the north Pacific coast. 



The turtle harpoon arrow in the Solimoens, Brazil, has a lancet- 

 shaped point of steel fitted into a peg, which enters the tip of the 

 shaft. This head is secured to the shaft by a tw^ne of pineapple 

 fiber, 30 to 40 yards long and neatly wound around the shaft. AVhen 

 the blade enters the shell the head of the arrow pulls out and the ani- 

 mal dives to the bottom, leaving the shaft floating. The Indian, on 

 pe receiving a movement in the water, shoots his arrow into the air and 

 it never fails to pierce the shell of the submerged animal.^ 



The Amazo'i Indians hunt the manatee for food in small canoes and 

 kill it with harpoons, the ))lades of which are made of shells.^ 



The Upper Shingu tribes hunted and fished with bow and arrow, 

 though fishing was sparingl}'^ done in this way. The harpoon arrows 



' Bates, On the Amazons, 1875, p. 29.3. 



■^Acuna, New Discovery, Hakluyt, No. 24, 1S5<), p. 69; Bates, loc. cit., 1875, p. 245. 



