36 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 81 



the line hole in the manner characteristic of the Point Hope region, 

 and likewise of Punuk, though the decoration on the harpoon heads 

 from the latter locality is much more elaborate. 



The two smaller harpoon heads, h and c, from Point Barrow, are 

 simply decorated with lines, and on b, small hachured triangles. Red 

 pigment has been rubbed into the incisions. 



In d is shown a small harpoon head from Nunivalc Island. It has 

 a three pronged barb and a decoration of two concentric circles with 

 spurs attached. Nunivak Island and the neighboring mainland are 

 the only localities where circles and dots are applied to harpoon heads 

 at the present time. 



The small bone harpoon head shown in e is from the Semidi 

 Islands, south of the Alaska Peninsula. Across one barb and extend- 

 ing obliquely up toward the center is a decoration consisting of a nar- 

 row band enclosing six small lines. 



In / is shown a bone harpoon head excavated at Metlatavik, 22 

 miles above Cape Prince of Wales. On both the upper and lower sides 

 is an elongated depression bordered by two lines, the outer one con- 

 tinuing to the base where it follows the bifurcated barb. Immediately 

 above the line hole are two small grooves 5 mm. long, one on each side, 

 which from the position and shape may be regarded as representing 

 ornamental remnants of grooves for side blades. 



Two modern seal dart foreshafts from Southwest Alaska, carved 

 to represent the sea otter, are illustrated on plate 21. These are intro- 

 duced for the purpose of comparison with the ancient ivory object on 

 plate 5 and the somewhat more recent foreshaft shown on plate 9, 

 figure 2. These two modern foreshafts illustrate the well-known 

 tendency of the Eskimo of the Bristol Bay-Nunivak region to utilize 

 life forms for the embellishment of their implements and weapons. 

 An animal with open mouth and exposed teeth is a favorite decoration 

 applied to the foreshaft of the seal dart. In a the eyes and nostrils are 

 small cylindrical plugs of baleen, but in h they are merely shallow 

 depressions filled with a bluish clay. 



Plate 9, figure 2, represents the foreshaft for a light dart. This was 

 bought at Teller, Seward Peninsula, and was reported to have been 

 excavated on one of the Diomedes. It is 8^ cm. long, but the lower 

 end is missing. There is a circular perforation on the lower side for 

 holding a thong, and in the forward end a circular hole 8 mm. deep for 

 the dart head. The projecting ears are suggestive of a land mammal 

 but the curves about the head suggest the gills of a fish. Apparentlv 

 there was no intention to clearly represent any particular animal. The 

 discs forming the eyes are of baleen. The object is a rich chocolate 



