256 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1900. 



in this spiM'iiiKMi is simply h t"ip of ivory with a little projection on the 

 top. The hinoino- line is not {ittaehed to it in any way. The ivory 

 pegs driven into the shaft near its lower end are for the throwing 

 stick, which is peculiar to this i-egion, and for the eyelets used in 

 tiuhtenino- the line when the toggle is in place and ready for action. 



Especial attention is drawn to the lower end of 

 the shaft, on which are pegged or riveted two plates 

 of ivory, which not only resem])le feathers on an 

 arrow, })ut must perform a similar function. The 

 foreshaft is so light that it could be of little use in 

 giving directness to the flight of the weapon, but 

 the feathers of ivory fastened on at the end would 

 remedy this defect and steady the shaft in the air. 

 It is thought ))y some that the existence of these 

 plates of ivory on the base of the shaft is an indica- 

 tion of the descent of the harpoon from the arrow. 



A kaiak lance (Cat. No. 74126, U.S.N.M.) from 

 Holstenberg, Greenland, was col- 

 lected by Capt. J. W. Collins. 

 The shaft is of pine wood, ellipti- 

 cal in section, tapering in ])oth 

 directions from the hand rest and 

 at the front, and swells out to tit 

 neatly the foreshaft or cap of 

 bone. • Upon the narrow side of 

 the shaft in front of the middle 

 portion are the linger rests, which 

 consist of a peg of wood driven into a hole on one 

 side and on the other a Hat portion of bone set in a 

 quadrangular mortise, and having at the outer end 

 on one side a groove for the finger. 



The piece of bone corresponding to the foreshaft 

 is not more than half an inch in length, perfectly 

 flat across the outer end. and at its middle portion 

 is a slight projection or pivot. The loose shaft is of 

 narwhal tusk, flattened in cross section and mor- 

 tised into a })iece of ])one in form of a truncated 

 cone. Its widest portion, with a slight socket in the 

 middle, sits flat upon the cap or foreshaft. This 

 particular combination is of a more advanced type 

 than the ordinary ball-and-socket joint with the 

 Cumberland Sound Plskimo, growing out of the fact that these Green- 

 land Eskimo have })een for many centuries in contact with the Scan- 

 dinavians. In this case the two flattened surfaces cause the lashing, to 

 act as a sjning holding the foreshaft or blade piece straight in front 



Fig. 49. 



FORESHAFT AND LOOSE 



SHAFT OF FIGUKE -18, 



Fig. 50. 

 OLD TOGGLE HEAD. 



Upernavik, Greenland. 



Collected by Theodore Holm. 



Cat. No. 130371. U.S.N.M. 



