HARPOON-HEADS. 81 



" We find now and then in our peat-mosses," he says, " implements which 

 have evidently been used in the same manner as the javelin from the Kurile 

 Islands, above described. These implements are of bone, six to ten inches long, 

 two and one-fourth to two or three lines broad, occasionally round, but generally 

 rather compressed, tapering to a point towards both ends, and either provided 

 along both sides with a deeply indented groove, into which thin shai-p flakes of 

 flint are inserted, and fastened by means of black putty resembling pitch, or the 

 groove with the flint flakes is found only along one side.''' The front end is 

 pointed, and behind, the point is occasionally widened, in shape like a spear- 

 point, so that the whole bone represents a spear in miniature, with its long shaft ; 

 the groove holding the flint-splinters does not reach quite to the point. Such is 

 the implement in its original form, but, by degrees, as it wears out and is again 

 sharpened to a point, the spear-shaped expansion disappears and the point is 

 worn down to the grooves. The hinder end is likewise sharp-pointed, and has 

 evidently been inserted in a wooden shaft. Generally this end is to a certain 

 distance less smooth than the remainder of the bone, and sometimes the resin, 

 by means of which it has been cemented in the shaft, remains up to a little 

 more than an inch. This implement is principally found in bogs in the South 

 of Scania; also in the province of Bohusland, on Tjorn (west coast of Sweden); 

 it is said to have been also found in the Island of Oland. In the Museum of 

 the Academy of Antiquities, in Stockholm, there is a specimen, the longest 

 which I have seen (ten inches in length), found during the digging of the Gotha 

 Canal, between Pafvelstorp and Tatorp, in peat-earth, under a bed of clay, and 

 eight feet under ground. But where there is peat-earth there must have been 

 water ; consequently, everything that is found on, and especially under, peat- 

 earth, has sunk to the bottom in some water. It is probable, therefore, that the 

 implements in question, while being used on the water, have dropped therein 

 and gone to the bottom. In order to form a correct idea of the manner in which 

 these implements were used by the Scandinavian aborigines, we ought to enquire 

 how they are employed amongst the nations where they are still in use. 



" The Greenlander uses this weapon only on the water, in the pursuit of 

 aquatic birds. It is provided with a shaft five feet in length, ending at the back 

 with some ornament, generally a reindeer-foot or something of that kind, and is 

 thrown by hand at birds while they are resting on the water. It strikes usually 

 at the distance of from fifty to sixty paces, and Egede relates that the Green- 

 lander can hit his prey at a tolerably long distance, as surely as a good shot 

 could do it with a fowling-piece. From his eaidy childhood the Greenlander 

 begins to practise throwing the bird-javelin. It is thrown by means of a 



* These darts remind one by their construction of the Mexican maquahuitl, which the Spaniards called espada, .- 

 or sword. 



Kll 



