HARPOON-HEADS. 77 



implements so complicated could have been constructed so completely alike by 

 the Eskimos of the present day, living in the most northern part of North 

 America, and by the aborigines in the most southern part of Scandinavia, 

 between which two races, so very dissimilar in origin, and so widely separated 

 as to locality, we cannot suppose any relationship to have existed. That imple- 

 ments so simple in construction as the flint arrow should be alike in most 

 countries, even in Scania and Tierra del Fuego, can be explained by a kind of 

 instinct in man, as man, everywhere, as long as he stands at the very lowest 

 point of civilization ; but the perfect similarity between implements so compli- 

 cated as those now in question, I look upon as one of the great, still unsolved, 

 enigmas of ethnological science."^ 



I must confess that the case does not appear to me as having such an extra- 

 ordinary bearing. As soon as man, in any part of the world, had conceived 

 and carried out the idea of constructing a dart with two or three prongs for 

 fishing or hunting purposes (a plan veiy simple in itself), a short practice would 

 have taught him the desirability of rendering the prongs movable to a certain 

 extent, and hence he would naturally have been led to fasten the ligatures in a 

 way to bring about the change for the better. Professor Nilsson's discovery, 

 however, is very interesting. 



I find on Plate 40 of Captain A. P. Madsen's beautifully illustrated work 

 "Antiquites Prehistoriques du Danemark. L'Age de la Pierre " (Copenhagen, 

 1873) representations of three bone harpoon-heads (Figs. 6, 7, and 8), each of 

 them showing a different type. One of these darts (Fig. 6, not reproduced), 

 which measures a trifle less than ten inches, was found in a bog in Jiitlaud. I. 

 shows two broken unilateral barbs, the first forming the downward continuation of 

 the point, the second projecting two inches below the first. Another (Fig. 7), of 

 which Fig. 100 on the opposite page is a reduced copy, shows much more elaborate 

 workmanship. It was found near Odense, in the Island of Fiinen. The third 

 (Fig. 8) , of Avhich Fig. 101 on the opposite page is a copy, was extracted from a 

 bog in the District of Frederiksborg, Seeland. It closely resembles in shape Fig. 

 96, copied from Professor Nilsson's work. Javelins with bone armatures of this 

 shape, but larger, are still in use among the poor inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego. 

 Fig. 102 represents one of a number obtained during the United States Exploring 

 Expedition under Lieutenant Wilkes, and now in the United States National 

 Museum. The longest of these dart-heads, which exhibit very creditable work- 

 manship, measures nearly sixteen inches. 



Not long ago Count Jan Zawisza, of Warsaw, was kind enough to send me 

 No. IV of a Polish publication entitled " Wiadomosci Archeologiczne " f (War- 



* Nilsson : Primitive Inhabitants; p. 34, etc. 

 f Archaeological News. 



