ABORIGINAL AMERICAN HARPOONS. 



257 



of the .shaft. These two parts are united by means of a bit of raw- 

 hide passing through two holes in the foreshaft 

 and three holes in the k)ose shaft a foot from 

 the end. The lashing is similar to that of the 

 Cumberland Sound types, with slight loeal dif- 

 ferences of administration. In front of the 

 blade piece is the blade of iron, lanceolate in 

 form, with truncated })ase set in a saw cut at 

 the tip and held fast by a copper rivet. This 

 lance is for stabbing the walrus or whale at 

 close quarters from the kaiak. Length of shaft, 

 62 inches; loose shaft, 8i inches; blade, 3i inches. 

 An old toggle harpoon head (Cat. No. 130371 , 

 U.S.N.M.) from Upernavik, Greenland, is 

 shown in lig. 50. It has an iron blade riveted 

 on to the front of the body, parallel to its i 

 broadest diameter. The line holes were bored § 



c 



in from two directions, and apparently per- ^ 

 forated the body after the manner of the toggle | 

 head used on the Amur River and figured in = 

 Schrenck. Length of body, 3f inches. Gift 5 S^ = 

 of Theodore Holm. » ^ " 



A harpoon for killing whales (Cat. No. 90103), ^ < *- 

 used by the Little Whale River Indians on the | o ^ 

 coast of Labrador, is shown in lig. 51. The lie 

 shaft is of wood, the foreshaft of bone. The r. ^ " 

 base of it is wedge-shaped, and lits into the slit Z 

 at the end of the shaft, being held in place § 

 by a lashing of sinew cord. On the end of | 

 the foreshaft lits the toggle head, with iron g 

 blade held fast by two rivets. The body of ^ 

 the toggle head is rectangular in cross section. 

 The line hole passes through the sides and is 

 not seen on the lower part. The wide barbed 

 end is cut into three or four tooth-shaped parts. 

 The line is of rawhide, plaited. The peculiarity 

 of this harpoon is a board, somewhat circular 

 in form, on the lower end of the shaft, which 

 acts as a drag to the wounded animal, in place 

 of a seal-skin float. The line passes between 

 this board and the shaft, and has a handle or 

 toggle fastened at the other end to be held in 

 the hand of the fisherman.^ 



If Hearne be correct, the Eskimo west of 



'Lucien Turner, Hudson Bay Eskimo, 1894, p. 314, figs. 188, 139. 



