ABORIGINAL AMERICAN HARPOONS. 



271 



O 



sions. The men of the boat's crew cany their guns to shoot passing 

 seals during the wear}' wait for the whale to come. Two women will 

 be found in most crews. Each woman carries a sealskin bag to thaw 

 out the snow for drinking purposes; the snow is put in the bag and 

 its mouth tirmly tied; it is then placed on her back between the inner 

 and outer coat. The women also have their sewing 

 outfits, to mend any breaks in the umiak. 



In hunting through the ice the Eskimo of Point Bar- 

 row used a different shaped harpoon, with a long ivory 

 piece on each end and a smaller head. As the seal 

 comes up to blow they hurl this spear through the 

 hole; then they drown the seal. After the animal is 

 dead they haul it through the ice, picking the ice away 

 until the hole is large enough to get the seal out. The 

 animals do not freeze quickly, because they have such a 

 coating of blubber. (Mr. Charles Browers.) 



A combined barbed and toggle harpoon head (Cat. No. 

 1328, U.S.N. M.) of antler, from the Mackenzie River 

 district, is shown in fig. 62. Body sagittate, tapering to 

 a flat angular tip. Blade of iron, wdth a long rectangu- 

 lar tang and a triangular point with slight projections 

 at its base. The tang is snugly fitted into the slit and 

 held b}^ an iron rivet. There is a line hole at one angle 

 of the point, but it may have been there previously, 

 since these Eskimos especiall}' work up all the old iron 

 they get their hands on. 



Line hole straight through the bod v behind the lateral 

 barbs, and without slight grooves. Barbs, three; two 

 on the sides, on an arrowhead, ornamented with longi- 

 tudinal lines, and one terminating the back in a point. 

 Socket half an inch deep. Butt end having two faces, the lower almost 

 at right angles with the body, the upper whittled thin under the barb. 

 Length, 3f inches. Collected by C. P. Gaudet. To this special tj^pe 

 belong also many other examples. The National Museum is under 

 infinite obligations to Messrs. Robert MacFarlane, B. R. Ross, and 

 R. Kennicott for Mackenzie River materials. 



A barbed seal harpoon (Cat. No. 16675, U.S.N.M.) for throwing 

 stick. The shaft is of light pine wood, tapering backward, and is 

 slightly thickened at the butt end. It is attached to the foreshaft by 

 means of a socket and shank on the foreshaft. The foreshaft is of 

 whale's bone, cj^lindrical. The tang is a plug cut on the end of the 

 bone, fitting into the socket of the foreshaft, A hole is bored through 

 the tang, through which the assembling line passes to hold the two 

 parts together. The socket for the point is elliptical in section. No 

 feathers are used. The point is of bone, delicate in form. Shank 



Fig. 62. 



BARBED AND TOG- 

 GLE HEAD. 



Mackenzie River. 

 Collected by C. P. 



Gaudet. Cat. No. 



1328, U.S.N.M. 



