ABORIGINAL AMERICAN HARPOONS. 



279 



on the side and cut s(iu:ire holes in the marg-ins of this cavity, through 

 which a rawhide line could he run several times, and tliis would serve 

 the purpose of the socket. This device may be seen on one other speci- 

 men in the collection. Collected bv Philip H. Ra}', Point Barrow. 



r.s.x.:M.) fr. 



An old harpoon toggle head (Cat. No. 81^382. 

 Nuwuk, in the Point Barrow region, made of bone, 

 all in one piece, is shown in fig. 77. In fact, it is a 

 l)arbed head, like that of the seal dart, becoming a 

 toggle head. The part answering to the blade is a 

 point on the bone with a single barb on the lower 

 side or belly. From the base of the l)arb the body 

 widens to the ))utt end. The line hole is transverse 

 to the blade. The butt is cut off diagonally. The 

 socket is wanting, but the bone is concave on one 

 side. Mr. Murdoch thinks that a socket \vas pro- 

 vided bj^ the lashing, as in Example 89381. ' Length, 

 3 inches. Collected by P. H. Ray. 



An old-style toggle head (Cat. No. 89748, U. S. N. M. ) 



for a harpoon is shown 

 in fig. 78. The body is 

 of bone, quadrangular 

 in section. The head is 

 of chipped stone, with a 

 tang set into the kerf in 

 front of the body and 

 held in place not l)v a 

 rivet, but by a lashing 

 of sinew twine. The line hole is at the 

 extremity of the body, where it begins to 

 taper to the spur or barb, which is slighth' 

 bifurcated at its outer end. This is called 

 an old-fashioned specimen because the 

 blade of stone is in the plane of the greatest 

 width of the bodj^ and is bisected by the 

 line hole." 



A retrieving seal harpoon (Cat. No. 

 89907, U. S.N. M.) from Point Barrow, 

 collected by Ray, is shown in figs. 79 and 80. This specimen was 

 supposed by Murdoch to have been invented after the introduction of 

 the rifie. but in his description-' he makes the remark that though it is 

 used at the present dav for nothing but retrieving, the fact of similar 

 specimens having been brought bv the officers of the BJosmm shows that 



Fig. 76. 



COMBINED BARBED AND 

 TOGGLE HEAD. 



Point Barrow. 



Collected by P. H. Ray. 



Cat. No. 89381. U.S.N.M. 



Fig. 77. 

 OLD TOGGLE HEAD. 



Point Barrow. 



Collected by 

 Cat. 



H. Ray, after JIuidoch' 

 i. 89382, U.S.N.M. 



^ Ninth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, p. 219, fig. 208. 

 -Iflem, p. 221, fitr. 212. 

 ^Idem, p. 231. 



