THROWING-STICKS. 287 



the mainland opposite Nunivak (Fig. 17). In those three-pegged 

 sticks the ring-linger and the little finger are inclosed together. This 

 should be compared with Mr. Turner's Saint Michael specimen, in which 

 the last three fingers are inclosed together (Fig. 14). It remains to bo 

 seen and is worthy of investigation whether crossing a narrow channel 

 would add a peg to the throwing-stick. One of these Nunivak speci- 

 mens is left-handed. 



BRISTOL BAY TYPE. 



The throwing-stick from Bristol Bay resembles in general character- 

 istics those from Nunivak Island and Cape Vancouver. In outline it 

 has the shape of the broadsword. Its cross-section is bayonet-shaped. 

 It has no distinct handle beyond a slight projection from the end. The 

 thumb-groove is shallow and chamfered on the lower side to fit exactly. 

 There is a long, continuous notch for the four fingers, in which the index 

 finger and the middle finger are set off by pegs. There is a depression, 

 more or less i)rofound, to receive the tips of the fingers. The groove 

 for the harpoon or spear-shaft is at the lower extremitj' and runs out 

 entirely near the index finger. The ivory plug at its lower extremity 

 is beveled to receive a notch in the end of the spear or harpoon shaft 

 (Figs. 18-19). 



A freshly-made implement, looking as if cut out by machinery, re- 

 sembling closely those just described, is labeled Kadiak. The con- 

 stant traffic between Bristol Bay and Kadiak, across the Alaskan pen- 

 insula, may account for the great similarity of these implements. Fur- 

 thermore, since the natives in this region and southward have been 

 engaged for more than a century in fur-sealing for the whites, there is 

 not the slightest doubt that implements made by whites have been in- 

 troduced and slightly modified by the wearer to fit his hand. 



KADIAK OR UNALASHKA TYPE. 



In the National Museum are four throwing-sticks, one of them left- 

 handed, exactly alike — two of them marked Kadiak and two Unalashka 

 (Figs. 20-22). They return to the more primitive type of the area from 

 Kotzebue Sound to Greenland, indicating that the implement culmi- 

 nated in Norton Sound. In outline this southern form is thin and 

 straight-sided, and those in possession are all of'hard wood. The back 

 is carved in ridges to fit the palm of the hand and muscles of the thumb. 

 There is no thumb-groove, the eccentric index-finger hole of the North- 

 ern and Eastern Eskimo is present in place of the central cavity of the 

 area from Kotzebue Sound to Cape Vancouver, and there is a slight 

 groove for the middle finger. Marks 5 and 6 are wanting. The shaft- 

 groove is very slight, even at its lower extremity, and runs out in a few 

 inches toward the handle. The hook for the end of the weai)on resem- 

 bles that of Nunivak, but is more rounded at the point. Of the Eskimo 

 of Prince William Sound, the extreme southern area of the Eskimo on 

 the Pacific, Captain Cook says, in the narrative of his last voyage: 



