ABORIGINAL AMEKK^AN HARPOONS. 239 



they leave their ideas as well as their accoiiterments. The task of dis- 

 criinination is further embarrassed by the collectors unfortunate habit 

 of lal)elinof a specimen with the name of the place where he procured 

 it, himself frequently not knowing the place of its manufacture. The 

 numbers on the specimcHs are arranged as thej^ occur in the catalogue 

 of the U. S. National Museum. 



Hans Egede, the apostle to Greenland (1721-1736), gives the follow- 

 ing description of the harpoon and its uses: 



When the Indians of Greenland go whale catching they put on their best apparel, 

 fancying that if they did not come neatly dressed the whale, who can not bear 

 slovenly hal)its, would shun them. About fifty men and women set out in one of 

 the large boats called kone-boats. The women carry along with them their sewing 

 tackle, consisting of needles and thread, to sew and mend their husbands' spring 

 coats should they be torn, and also to mend the boat in case it should receive 

 any damage. The men go in search of the whale, and when they have found it 

 they strike it with their harpoons, to which are fastened lines or straps 2 or 3 

 fathoms long, at the end of which they tie a bag of a whole seal skin filled with 

 air; so that when a whale finds itself wounded and runs away with the harpoon it 

 may the sooner become tired, the air bag hindering it from being long under water. 

 When it thus loses strength they attack it again with their spears and lances until it 

 is killed; then they put on their spring coats, made of dressed seal skin, all of one 

 piece, with boots, gloves, and caps, sewed and laced so tight together that no water 

 can penetrate them. In this garb they jump into the sea and begin to slice the fat off 

 all around the body, evenundei the water; for in these coats they can not sink, since 

 they are full of air, so that they can, like the seal, stand upright in the sea. They 

 are sometimes so daring they will get upon the whale's back while there is yet life 

 in him, to cut away the fat. 



They go much the same-way to work in killing seal except that the harpoon is 

 lesser, and to it is fastened a line 6 or 7 fathoms long. At the end is a bladder or 

 bag made of a small sealskin filled with air, to keep the seal, when he is wounded, 

 from diving under water and being lost again. In the northern parts, where the 

 sea is frozen over in the winter, the Eskimo use other means. They first look 

 out for holes which the seals make with their claws, about the size of a half penny, 

 that they may catt^h their breath. After they have found a hole they seat them- 

 selves near it upon a chair made for the purpose, and as soon as they perceive the 

 seal come up to the hole and put its snout into it for air, they immediately strike 

 it with a sinall harpoon to which is fastened a strap a fathom long, which they hold 

 in the other hand. After it is struck and can not escape, they cut the hole so 

 large that they may get the animal up through it, and as soon as they have its head 

 above the ice they can kill it with one blow of the fist. 



A third way of catching seals is to make a great hole in the ice, or in the spring 

 they find holes made bj' the seals. Near to these holes they {)lace a low bench 

 upon which they lie down upon their bellies, having first made a small hole near the 

 larger one, thrf)Ugh whi("h they let softly down a perch Ifi or 20 yards long, headed 

 with a har])()on, a strap being fastened to it which one holds in his hand, while 

 another, who lies upon a bench with his face downward, watches the ("oming of the 

 seal, when he cries "Kae," whereujion he who holds the pole pushes and strikes 

 the seal. 



The fourth way is this: When the seals, in the spring, are lying upon the ice near 

 holes which they themselves make to get up and down, the ftreenlanders, clothed 

 in sealskin, holding harpoons in their hands, creej) along upon the ice, moving their 



