ABORIGINAL AMERICAN HARPOONS. 



255 



Fig. 47. 



SM.\I.I, TOGGLE HEAD. 



West Greenland. 



Gift of Governor Fencknpi 



Cut. No. 63952, U.S.N. M. 



two conical bores, afterwards smoothed down so as not to injui-e the 

 line. This method of formino- the hole by the meet- 

 ing of two separate cones is avcU 

 known to students of archaeology. 

 Four small perforations are seen 

 l)(^tween the line hole and the 

 socket, drilled for the purpose of 

 stopping the further opening of a 

 crack in the base. 



A small toggle head of bone (Cat. 

 No. 63952, U.S.N.M.), blackened 

 by age, from west Greenland is 

 shown in fig. 47. It is square in 

 cross section, one angle extending 

 from tip of the point to tip of the 

 barb and having a pyramidal point. 

 There is no blade. Line holes 

 bored straight in from the two 

 lower surfaces, line grooves short 

 and deep. Barb one, socket half 

 an inch deep, butt end })eveled off diagonally from 

 lower edge to upper edge. Length, 2i inches. Col- 

 lected by Governor Fenckner. 



Cat. No. 63963 in the U. S. National Musevmi is a 

 harpoon of bone from southwestern Greenland. It 

 consists of two parts, the shank and the hinged 

 toggle. The shank is pierced at one end to act as a 

 hinge and at the other end in two places for the 

 attachment of a shaft. The toggle is spindle shaped, 

 hollowed on one side, and pierced with three holes to 

 facilitate the hinging. This specimen is evidently an 

 imitation or adaptation in bone of the iron fluke in 

 the harpoons of the whalers. Length of shank, 4i 

 inches. Gift of Governor Fenckner. 



The smaller harpoon shaft (Cat. No. 72.566, 

 U.S.N.M.), from southern Greenland, is illustrated 

 in figs. 48 and 49. This figure is introduced for the 

 purpose of showing the details of the shaft, which are 

 quite local. The loose shaft is made of bone or ivory, 

 square at the base and socketed to fit over a .small pro- 

 jection on the foreshaf t. Two holes are bored through 

 the former, and through these and two in the end of 

 the shaft a stout rawhide thong passes and is tightly 

 drawn to form an elastic spring, useful in the ship- 

 ping and unshipping of the loose shaft. What answers to the foreshaft 



Fig. 48. 



SHAFT OF SMALLER 

 HARPOON. 



South Greenland. 

 Collected by Chief Sig- 

 nal Officer, U. S. A. 

 Cat. No. 72566, U.S.N.M. 



