HARPOON-HEADS. 



73 



" The harpoon," he says, " is a common fishing and hnnting-implement among 

 those savages who inhabit islands and the sea-coast. It can be used only in the 

 water, where it is thrown in order to fasten in the animal which is to be caught. 

 Its purpose is not to kill the prey, but to check its cai'eer in the water, so that 

 it may be more easily approached and killed with another weapon — the spear.* 



Fig. 94. — Scania. 



Fig. 95. — Scania. 



Fig. 96.— Scania. 



Pig. 97.— Seeland. 



Figs. 94-97. — Bone harpoon-heads. 



" Harpoons of bone, sharp-pointed, with barbs on one side, are occasionally 

 found in our ancient peat-bogs in Scania. Such a one is seen on Plate IV, Fig. 

 71 (here Fig. 94). This harpoon-point appears, like those from Greenland, to 

 have been fastened to its long shaft in such a manner as to be disengaged there- 

 from when it stuck fast in the harpooned animal, because above the point of 

 attachment is a projection over which the strap or line seems to have been tied. 

 It was found in Scania, in a bog near the sea-coast. It may have been used for 

 hunting seals or small whales or other similar animals. Meanwhile, it is very 

 remarkable that amongst the objects which Messrs. Christy and Lartet have 

 found in the caves of Perigord, and which may be considered as being among 



R 10 



* Nilsson : Primitive Inhabitants; p. 26. 



