300 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1900. 



other side is a small barb or hook, which could scarcely be of any 

 use. The tang is not tapered or shouldered, but is quite wide. 

 The line hole is round, and into it is set a thong of rawhide, doubled 

 and joined together at its ends and likewise near the barb by a lashing 

 of sinew thread. Just above the point, where the two ends of the 

 thong are bound together with sinew thread, a braided cord of sinew 

 passes between the two ends of the thong and is made fast by a half 

 hitch, a knot being tied in the end of the braid to prevent its coming 

 undone. The braid constitutes the line of the harpoon. A few feet 

 from the point, where the braid is attached to the rawhide leader of 

 the barbed head, it is separated into two smaller braids, and these 

 become the branches of the martingale, the ends of which are attached, 

 one under the bridle, the other 3 feet from the front end of the shaft. 

 The hand rest is a short piece of the black horn of the mountain goat. 

 Its base fits on the shaft. Through a hole in this horn a lashing of 

 sinew thread passes around the shaft several times. The bladder has 

 at one end a delicate mouthpiece of ivory set against the shaft, held in 

 place b}" sinew thread passing through perforations in the mouthpiece. 

 At the other end the bladder is attached to the shaft by means of a 

 rawhide thong tied a few inches awa3^ At five different places on the 

 shaft, namely, the two points of attachment for the martingale, the 

 place of the hand rest, and the two points of attachment for the blad- 

 der, are l)ands of white birch bark, which serve both for ornament and 

 as a soft packing to hold the different lashings in place. The manner 

 in which the line is done up on the shaft when the harpoon is ready 

 for action, by means of a loose knot, which is easily untied, is shown. 

 In ever}^ respect this is a well-made and graceful implement. Length 

 of shaft, 8 feet 5 inches; point, 8 inches. 



The Samoyed harpoon, on the testimon}^ of Nordenskiold, consists 

 of a large and strong iron head, very sharp on the outer edge and pro- 

 vided with a barb. The head is loosely fixed to the shaft, but securely 

 fastened to the end of a slender line 10 fathoms long, generally made 

 of walrus hide. The line is fastened at its other end to the boat, in 

 the fore part of which it lies in a carefully arranged coil. There are 

 from five to ten such harpoon lines in every hunting boat. When 

 the hunters see a herd of walrus, either on a piece of drift ice or in the 

 water, they endeavor, silently and against the wind, to approach suffi- 

 ciently near to one of the animals to be able to harpoon it. If this 

 succeeds, the walrus first dives and then endeavors to swim under water 

 all he can. But he is fixed with the line to the boat and must draw it 

 along. His comrades swim toward the boat, curious to ascertain the 

 cause of the alarm. A new walrus is transfixed with another harpoon, 

 and so it goes on until, one after another, all the harpoons are in use. 

 The boat is now drawn forward at a whizzing speed, although the row 

 ers hold back with the oars; but there is no actual danger so long as 



