288 REPORT OP NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1884. 



"Their longer darts are thrown by means of a piece of wood about a 

 foot long, with a small groove in the middle which receives the dart. 

 At the bottom is a hole for the reception of one finger, which enables 

 them to grasp the piece of wood much firmer and to throw with greater 

 force." Captain Cook's implement corresponds exactly to the speci- 

 mens just described and renders it probable that this thin, parallel- 

 sided, shallow-grooved throwiug-stick, with index-finger hole placed 

 at one side of the spear-shaft groove, extended all along the southern 

 border of Eskimolaud as far as the Aleuts of TJnalashka and Attoo. 

 In addition to the information furnished by the specimens in hand. Dr. 

 Stejneger describes a similar stick in use in the island of Attoo. On 

 the contrary, Mr. Elliott assures me that Aleutian fur sealers of Priby- 

 lov Island use throwing-sticks precisely similar to those of jSTorton 

 Sound and Nunivak. 



This list might be extended further by reference to authorities, but 

 that is from the purpose of this article and the series of ethnological 

 papers commenced in this volume. The most perfect throwing-stick of 

 all is that of the Mahlemut, in Norton Sound, in which are present the 

 handle, thumb-groove, finger-grooves, and pegs, cavities for the finger- 

 tips, index finger cavity, shaft groove, and hook for the harpoon. In 

 short, all the characteristics present on the rest are combined here. 



Classifications of these implements may be varied according to the 

 organ selected. As to the hook for the attachment of the weapon, in 

 Greenland this is on the shaft, in all other parts of the world it is on 

 the throwing-stick. As to the index finger, there is for its reception, 

 from Point Barrow to Greenland, an eccentric hole quite through which 

 the finger passes. From Kotzebue Sound to Norton Sound there is a 

 central pocket on the back of the weapon, directly under the groove, 

 for the shaft of the weapon to receive the index finger. From Cape 

 Vancouver to Bristol Bay an ivory or wooden peg serves this purpose. 

 At Kadiak and Unalashka the ecceutric index-finger hole returns. 



It is more than probable that further investigation will destroy some 

 of the types herein enumerated or merge two more of them into one ; 

 but it will not destroy the fiict that in changing from one environment 

 to another the hyperboreans were driven to modify their throwiug-stick. 



A still more interesting inquiry is that concerning the origin of the 

 implement. It is hardly to bo supposed that the simplest type, that of 

 Anderson Eiver, was invented at once in its present form, for the Aus- 

 tralian form is ruder still, having neither hole for the index finger nor 

 groove for the weapon shaft. When we recall that the chief benefit 

 conferred by the throwing-stick is the ability to grasp firmly and launcli 

 truly a greasy weapon from a cold hand, we naturally ask, have the 

 Eskimo any other device for the same purpose? They have. On the 

 shaft of the light-seal harpoon, thrown without the stick, and on the 

 heavy, ivory-weighted walrus harpoon -shaft an ivory hand-rest is lashed 

 just behind the center of gravity. This little object is often beautifully 



