ABORIGINAL AMERICAN HARPOONS. 231 



blado. and it is ,so noiitly titted hotwoon tho spurs f()iinin«>- tlio toj^gle 

 iiiul covered with pitoli as to make a sure and efficient weapon. All 

 that the iron did later on was to leplace the rather brittle edge of 

 shell, without niodifvino- any other portions oi the inti-icate a])pa- 

 ratus. 



Marchand's account of the harpoon in Barclay Sound, west side of 

 Vancouver Island, is here g-iven. The strong- lance, which may be 

 called their unerring lance, is intended for striking the whale when he 

 presents himself on the surface of the water, and never does an Ameri- 

 can fail to wound him at the lirst stroke. Instantly the slighter lances 

 are employt'd for darting the harpoons, to each of which is fastened 

 one of the long pieces of rope. The other end of the line is iixed to 

 one of those large bladders tilled with air. This sort of balloons, float- 

 ing on the water, cease not to indicate the place where to find the 

 whale, dead or wounded, that has carried with him a harpoon, and 

 the fishermen, directed ])v this signal, follow him up and celebrate by 

 songs of joy their victory and conquest. But the most difficult is not, 

 undoubtedly, to deprive the monster of life. It remains for them to 

 get possession of him. and it would never be believed, if we were not 

 assured of the fact, that with skills so slight and ticklish as canoes 

 hollowed out of the trunk of a tree a few men should succeed in 

 dragging the space of 4 oi' 5 leagues an enormous mass and contrive to 

 run it on shore on a beach, where they can cut it up.' A glimpse at 

 the ethnographic chart of North America shows that the Aht or Nutka 

 division of the ^^'akashan familv occupies the western portion of Van- 

 couver Island, while the coast of British Colum])ia belongs to the 

 Ilaeltzukan branch, as shown by Boas. The same author fixes the 

 limits of the Chimmesyan family on the coast between the Koloschan 

 and the Haeltzukan tribes.' All about Puget Sound were Salishan 

 tribes, and a small contingent of the same family approach the harpoon 

 area at the mouth of the Bella Coola River. 



Harlan I. vSmith dug up at the junction of Thompson and Fraser 

 rivers two barbed harpoon heads 9 inches long, made of antler. They 

 have two barbs on one side and a hole for the connecting line.'' 



In a future paper the fishhooks of the same area will ])e discussed, 

 flora which it can be more clearly shown how the idea of the bent 

 finger and its imitators in bone and wood has also dominated the form 

 of the fish spear and the harpoon. 



Niblack * figures both barbed and toggle harpoon heads among the 

 Haida Indians of Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia, a little 



' Marchand's Voyage, London, 1801, I, pp. 492-493. 



'' Fifth Report of Committee on Northwest Tribes of Canada, Britisli Association for 

 the Advancement of Science, 18S9. 



'Memoirs, American Museum Natural History, New York, II, i>. l.'iT, tijr. 20. 

 ^Report U. S. National Museum, ISSS, pi. xxix. 



