ABORIGINAL AMERICAN HARPOONS. 293 



around. The top ends of the feathers are firmly driven into holes in 

 the wood. 



The head is of ivory, flat on one face and angular on the other. The 

 shank is nearly conical, titting into the socket of the foreshaft. Line 

 hole elongated. Barl)s, three on one margin and two on the other. 



The line or martingale of the harpoon is of rawhide; the undivided 

 end is passed through the line hole of the head and tied in a howline 

 knot. The two ends of the martingale are attached to the shaft near 

 the feather and near the foreshaft by clove hitches. The sinew braid 

 by means of which the shaft and foreshaft are seized together is con- 

 tinued on toward the feathers, with here and there a half hitch, until 

 it reaches the rear feathers, where it forms the seizing, and then passes 

 backward to become the seizing of the front set of feathers, and it is 

 fastened on b}' being punched into the wood in a similar way to the 

 top end of the feathers. 



Among the Eskimo tools there is a little ivory point belonging to 

 the outfit of the bow-and-arrow maker, used especially for making 

 holes in soft wood, into which the ends of feathers and lines are 

 punched to form a smooth fastening. It seems to be very effective. 

 Length of shaft, 3 feet 7 inches; length of foreshaft and shank, 

 7f inches; length of point, 3 inches. Collected by E. W. Nelson. 



A sea-otter harpoon dart Pishudak, (Cat. No. 72415, U.S.N. M.), 

 from Bristol Ba}', Alaska, is shown in Plate 12. In its composi- 

 tion it resembles a large number of specimens used in an important 

 industry. It w^ill be described, therefore, in detail. The head is of 

 ivory, flat on one side and angular in section on the other. There are 

 three barbs, two on the left margin, one on the right; the line hole is 

 oblong. The tang fitting into a socket at the end of the foreshaft is a 

 little cone, shouldered above. The line is of braided sinew, fastened 

 into the line hole of the barbed head by a bend and knot. The other 

 end in this and kindred specimens has not the martingale, but is tied 

 to the shaft near the middle of the bladder. When the animal is 

 .struck, the barbed head pulls out from the foreshaft, the line unrolls 

 from the shaft, the bone head drops, and the bladder rises. The appa- 

 ratus acts then both as a drag and a signal. The foreshaft, of bone, is 

 bill-shaped, cut ofl' square at the base, excepting a slight tenon in form 

 of a cylinder to fit into a socket at the front end of the shaft. In the 

 front end of the foreshaft a cvlinder of pine wood is set, and this must 

 be noted on all barbed harpoons. The purpose is to give the tang of 

 the head a firmer hold when the weapon is read}' for. action. The 

 ,shaft of this and other like specimens is of wood, tapering just slightly 

 from front to rear. The socket for the tenon of the foreshaft is care- 

 fully bored, and wrapped with sinew braid. The same braid is con- 

 tinued down the shaft for assembling line, and serves also for attach- 

 ing the float, which in all small harpoons of this class is made from 



