ABORIGINAL AMKKICAN HARPOONS. 



217 



of the Bororo liiditins of tlie hc:i(l\v:itcr.s of the I'tinii^Luiy River, in 

 southwestern Brazil, are used for eapturing- allio-ators and larjve fish. 

 Tlie sliaft is of the Uba reed, and at the ])utt end has two whole feath- 

 ers laid on flat. The head eonsists of a shaft of hard wood about 2 feet 

 long, to which are fastened the point and l)arl). made 

 of a pieee of l)one or ver\' hard wood. shai'i)ened at 

 both ends, and laid on the top of the foreshaft diao-- 

 onally so as to form the piercing portion in front 

 and the hook in the rear. The barl) is lashed on to 

 tlie foreshaft by means of a twined string, the other 

 end of which is attached to the shaft, so that when 

 the iiead is drawn out the shaft itself serves as a buoy. 

 For about '1 feet the outer end of the reed shaft is 

 wrapped with the same cord that connects the reed 

 with the shaft. The inner end of the foreshaft tits 

 into the hole of the reed (tig. 14). Length of this 

 sj)ear, <! feet. It is pictured in Von den Steinen, 181M. 

 page 48-1. ' Among the Bororo (Tupian family) is to 

 be found a moditication of this type of harpoon in 

 which the shaft is not fastened to the line but held in 

 the hand of the fisherman, who dives after his game. 

 A harpoon arrow of the Venezuelan Indians is 

 shown in Plate 3. The specimen is in the museum 

 of the University of Pennsylvania. The shaft is of 

 reed, without a joint. At the shaftment there are 

 two half feathers set on radial!}' and held in place by 

 wrappings of black and white thread in alternate 

 ))ands. In a few places the thread passes o^'er the 

 shaft of the quill, and elsewhere the bands of thread 

 do not touch the feather and have nothing to do 

 with the lashing. At the nock, a ball-like projection 

 is formed by the wrapping of thread. A piece of 

 hard wood is inserted in the notch to lit through the 

 bowstring. At the front end of the shaft a similar 

 object is wrapped around the end to strengthen the 

 socket of the foreshaft, which is a reed of black palm 

 about 8 inches in length, sharpened at its lower end, 

 and driven into the reed. It tapers gradually 

 toward the fore end. where it Hts into the head. 

 The head eoiisists of a barbed i)()int of iron and 

 a socket piece or a siiank of wood, into which the iron is fitted. 

 At the base of this shank is a short wrapping of twine, mixed 

 with gum, resem])ling a turk's-head knot. This acts as a stop to the 

 The sameAvrapping extends from the line outward nearly to the 



Fig. 14. 

 HARPOON ARROW. 



Bororo Indians, Bnizil. 

 .\fter Von den Steinen. 



li 



barb on the point. The harpoon line, which is 10 feet in length, is 

 NAT MUS IIMXJ 1,5 



