274 



REPOKT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1900. 



A new sU'le toggle head (Cat. No. 56620, U.S.N.M.) from Point 

 Barrow, is .shown in fig. 68. A large number of specimens of this type 

 were brought home by the Ray expedition. The body is of antler and 

 the blade is set into the saw cut at right angles to the plane of the 

 body, barbed. The line hole is in the plane of the blade. The socket 

 for the foreshaft divides the base into two parts with different slope, 

 the one nearly perpendicular, the other with a slight angle, so as to 

 form the barb. Of this specimen Murdoch sa3\s, "It is a newl}^ made 

 model in reindeer antler of the ancient harpoon, but evidently by a 



man used to modern patterns, 

 so that the blade is set in at the 

 wrong angle." 



Walrus harpoons (Cat. Nos. 

 56670 and 56672, U. S. N. M.) 

 from Point Barrow, Alaska, col- 

 lected by P. H. Rav, are shown 

 in tigs. 69 a and h. The shaft 

 of the former is of spruce, 71 

 inches long, rounded, and taper- 

 ing from the middle in both di- 

 rections. The club-shaped fore- 

 shaft is of ivory and has a 

 wedge-shaped tang which fits in 

 a cleft at the end of the shaft. 

 The shaft and foreshaft are 

 fastened together b}^ a whip- 

 ping of seal thong put on wet, 

 one end fastened through a hole 

 in the shaft, and the whole kept 

 from slipping by a ridge on each 

 side of the tang. In the tip of 

 the foreshaft is a deep, round 

 socket to receive the loose shaft, 

 a tapering i"od of walrus ivor}^ 

 secured by a piece of seal thong 

 passing through a transverse hole above the shoulder. One end is 

 spliced to the thong; the other end makes a couple of turns outside of 

 the lashing between the shaft and the foreshaft. On the side of the 

 shaft and just above the middle is a line catch. 



No. 56772 is a similar togglehead harpoon with the line hole in the 

 plane of the blade, foreshaft with square base, spindle-shaped fore- 

 shaft, leader looped into the line hole and doubled at the outer end, to 

 l)e spliced with the end of the line. On the shaft is a hook to be used 

 in tightening the apparatus when the head is in place and also a stop 



Fig. 68. 



TOGGLE HEAD WITH LEADER. 



Point Barrow. 



Collected by P. H. Ray. after Murdoch. 



Cat. No. 56620, U.S.N.M. 



