ABORIGINAL AMERICAN HARPOONS. 



247 



BARBED HAKPOON HEAD. 



Northern Greenland. 



Collected by Emil Bessels. Cat. No. 45887. 

 U.S.N.M. 



shaped like a barbed and tanged arrowhead, with a line hole through 



the tang in the plane of the blade. The tang abuts squareh' on the 



end of the shaft and the front of the 



blade is sharpened to an edge. The barbs 



are not of equal length. Length, If 



inches; width, 1^^^ inches. From Green- 

 land. Collected b}- Dr. E. Bessels. 

 Cat. No. 45888 (Fig. 31) is a barbed 



head of whale's rib. but there is not 



enough remaining to indicate whether it 



had toggle attachments. Length. 4i 



inches. Gift of Copenhagen Museum. 

 These old pieces are most interesting 



connecting links between the simple barb 



and the toggle* head. They might be named 



conservative harpoon heads, which, while 



trying the new device, can not at once 



la}' the old 

 barb aside. 



A toggle harpoon head (No. 45889, 

 U.S.N.M.) from western Greenland, made 

 ij l/i'll'i IIIIB <^^ bone all in one piece, is shown in fig. 



(V(! 1 1 LUMlllllill 32. It is double convex in section and 



the point is formed by shaving down the 

 faces of the body. The line hole passes 

 through the bone in a direction perpen- 

 dicular to the plane of the blade, and the 

 single barb is formed by beveling the 

 end. The line grooves are slight, and the 

 cavity for the shaft large, its margin con- 

 tinuous. Length, 5i inches; width, one- 

 half inch; depth, fifteen-sixteenths inch. 

 Gift of the Museum of Ethnology, Copen- 

 hagen. An entirelv aboriginal form, with 

 no metal about it. From this it is not to 

 be inferred that the piece antedates the 

 coming of the whites. 



The loose shaft of a toggle harpoon 

 (Cat. No. 45893, U.S.N.M.), made of wood, 

 from south Greenland, deserves consider- 

 ation. It is spindle-shaped, elongated on 

 one end, and short at the other, elliptical 

 in cross section. Through the thickest 



portion two holes are bored for the rawhide thong which unites it to 



the shaft. F^xamples of this part of the harpoon m wood are very 



rare. Length, 9^ inches. Gift of the Copenhagen Museum. 



ilii 



Fig. 31. 



OLD HAKPOON HEAD. 



North Greenland. 



Copenhagen Museum. 



45888, r.S.X.M. 



