ABORIGINAL AMERICAN HARPOONS. 



233 



line is tied at its ends? around the heads, just above the flukes or barbs, 

 and the middle of the line is .securely held 

 in place near the end of the .shaft by a 

 lashing of line. When the salmon is struck 

 the toggle is fastened in the animars body 

 and is withdrawn from the ends of tlie 

 foreshaft. The short line between the 

 head and the shaft enables the fisherman 

 to l)lay with the victim and to land it more 

 successfully.' Similar toggle heads on a 

 bifurcated shaft are to be seen among the 

 Thompson River Indians of British Co- 

 lumbia. This weapon is used for harpoon- 

 ing salmon from the shore while they are 

 running. The handle is 15 feet or more 

 in length and has two prongs securely 

 spliced on to the end of the .shaft (tig. 22). 

 The Thompson River specimen is similarly 

 made up of three pieces, the point and the 

 two spurs, but these last do not l)end out- 

 ward, as in the Chilkotin example, but lie 

 clo.se against the foreshaft. leaving a nar- 

 row cavit}" to tit over the end of the latter, 

 which is whittled in the form of a wedge. 

 The line or leader which holds the.se two 

 barbs to the front end of the shaft is 

 braided, and the ends are caught under the 

 lashing by means of which the toggle is 

 built up. James Teit says that when the 

 fish is struck the barb points are detached, 

 and the fish, with the toggle in its body, is 

 hauled ashore by means of the line. In 

 some forms of the spear the whole fore- 

 shaft is detachable. There are also exam- 

 ples in which only one toggle head is used, 

 and there are also .spears with fixed heads. 

 In that case the weapon is thrust through 

 the body of the fish." Batchelor figures a 

 similar double-headed toggle harpoon 

 among the Ainu.^ 



On the eastern side of North America it 

 will be convenient to begin with Florida. 

 Looking over Mr. Cushing's collections from San Marco, in the south- 



^A. G. Morice, Notes on the AVestern Denes*. Trans. Canadian Institute, 1894, p. 71. 

 *James Teit, Thomp.«on River Indians, 1900, p. 251, fig. 231. 

 •''The Ainu of Japan, Chicago, 1893, p. 154, 

 NAT MUS 1900 16 



Fig. 22. 

 TOGGLE HARPOON. 



Thomp.son Indians, British Columbia. 



Am. Mas. Nat. Histoi-j', N. Y 



After James Teit. 



