ABORIGINAL AMERICAN HARPOONS. 



245 



Fijf. 26 is a coml)ined toggle and barbed harpoon head from western 

 Greenhmd (No. 45883, U.S.N. M.), all in one piece of antler. The 

 body is narrow and flat, the spongy part of the material being the back 

 of the implement, while the belly, which takes the strain of the line, 

 is the outside hard ]^ortion of the antler. For a blade, the fore end 

 vras sharpened to a point. There is no evidence of a metal blade hav- 

 ing been used in this head. The line hole is formed by two slanting 

 holes meeting on the back of the body, so as to leave a small opening 

 on the back, a feature not common in Greenland specimens, but 

 observed in many from the Anuir region (Plate 7). The line grooves 

 extend onlv half an inch backward, and then suddenly terminate. 

 Originallv there were doubtless three barbs; one, a strong hook on the 

 left-hand margin between the point and the line 

 hole, and two barbs at the butt, spread out like 

 a fish tail, the tips being cut in an ornamental 

 manner (see Plate 8. from Von Schrenk). The 

 socket for the foreshaft is only three-fourths of 

 an inch deep. The butt end is cut off with a 

 long bevel, steep on its lower half and sloping- 

 more and more outward. Length, -ij inches. 

 Collected by Dr. Emil Bessels, but special local- 

 ity not given. 



A toggle head of bone from western Green- 

 land (No. 45884, U.S.N.M), conoid in form and 

 double convex in section, is shown in fig. '21. 

 The blade, which was of metal, is wanting, and 

 the blade slit is wide for such a small specimen, 

 the rivet hole neatly l)ored. Line hole, of two 

 cone-shaped cavities, meeting in the })ody of the 

 implement, and having slight line grooves. 

 There is ))ut one barb, pointed on the back, a 

 little to the right-hand side of the middle. The 

 socket for the end of the foreshaft is cone-shaped. 

 Length, -1\ inches. Gift of the Copenhagen Museum. This speci- 

 men, though exceeding!}' plain in shape, does not mark an early form 

 of toggle harpoon head, but a later period, when the}" were made in 

 great numbers, sometimes l)y machinery, and sold to the Eskimo, who 

 found it easier to provide themselves in this way than to make them 

 by their rude tools. 



An old toggle head of a harpoon from north Greenland (No. 45885, 

 U.S.N.M.), collected l)y Emil Bessels, is shown in fig. 28. 



The body is of l)one, the back nearly flat, being the soft part of the 

 material, and the belly, which is more rounded, is of the outer, hard 

 part of the bone, this being necessary in order to take the strain of 

 the line. 



NAT MUS IttOO 17 



Fig. ■_>:. 



TOCGI.K HEAD. 



West Greenland. 



(iift of Copenhagen Museum. 

 Cat. No. 45884, U.S.N.M. 



