ABORIGINAL AMERICAN HARPOONS. 



297 



the single barb is formed by the meetino- of the sharp back with the 



two edges of this bevel. The line hole passes straight 



through the body and is flanked by shallow wide grooves. 



The loose shaft is a piece of pine wood flattened and 



wedge-shaped at its butt end to tit into a wide socket at 



the end of the foreshaft, shouldered about 2 inches from 



this end and then tapering to the point of juncture with 



the body of the toggle head. The loose shaft passes 



into the shallow socket of the head, where it is hinged. 



A rawhide thong is passed through the line hole and 



tightly seized on either side of the loose shaft 8 inches 



below its outer end. This forms a hinge, so that when 



the body of the toggle head is drawn down the point of 



the loose shaft comes out of the socket, and the parts 



are held together b}- the wrapping or seizing. The two 



are further secured together by a grommet of spruce 



root. When in rest the wedge-shaped butt end of the 



loose shaft passes between the two sides of the rawhide 



line, and in unhinging from the toggle head this part 



also flies out in an opi^osite direction. At the end of the 



rawhide line is a loop for the attachment of a longer line. 



This old example is very interesting indeed, forming 

 a connecting link between the Eskimo toggle head and 

 the forms allied to it among the Indian tribes farther 

 south. Length of head and blade, 6i inches; loose 

 shaft, 9i inches. 



Plates 16 and 17 (Cat. Nos. 16-1:07, 193S2, and 72412, 

 U.S.N.M.) show the forms of harpoon arrows in use on 

 the north and the south side of the Alaskan peninsula. 

 The last mentioned, No. 6 on the plate, from Bristol Bay, ll I ' 

 is farthest removed from the arrow and nearest the har- 

 poon with its club-shaped head and bilateral barbs. The 

 line hole in the barbed head, the line running from head 

 to shaft, the socket for the head, the joint between head 

 and shaft, are all suggestive of the small seal harpoon. 

 No. 5 on the plate, from Cook Inlet, in its head approaches 

 very near to the simplicity of the Fuegian barbed har- 

 poon. The half feathers set on radially are more Indian 

 than Eskimo. Fig. 4 on Plate 16 is the delicate sea-otter 

 arrow from Kadiak, the paragon of aboriginal pro- 

 jectiles. The specimen is fuUv illustrated on Plate 17. 



This is the most elaborate and ingenious arrow known, 

 and all of its parts, in every specimen, are most 

 delicately flnished. Such a weapon may well have been 

 used in hunting the most costly of fur-bearing animals — the otter. 



if 



Fig. 88. 



TOGGLE HARPOON 

 HEAD. 



Bristol Bay. 



Collected by Wni. J. 

 Fisher. Cat. No. 

 168f.35, U.S.N.M. 



