
THE SEA FISHERIES OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA. 109 
they did not sometimes surpass, the most highly favored of the associated 
animals. Very soon, however, subsidiary apparatus would be called 
into play, either the throwing of stones or sticks, picked up at random, 
or the use of a specially fashioned club either for striking or throwing ; 
and ultimately the arming of the stick with animplement for piercing, 
constituting the spear or lance, and, finally, the discharge of this spear, 
in a modified form, by means of a bow, constituting the bow and arrow. 
It is, of course, difficult to say how soon the arrow and the lance were 
brought into play. We only know that among the very earliest pre- 
historic implements are the stone tips, undoubtedly used for this pur- 
pose and continued to be employed by the wild tribes down to the 
present day. The bone and wooden tips, which doubtless were called 
into play at about the same time, perished, as being constructed of less 
durable material. 
The spear and the bow and arrow constitute very efficient means for 
capturing fish, in view of the closeness of approach to many species 
which is possible. No more effective method could be devised for cap- 
turing such species as the salmon than the spear, with its modifications 
of the harpoon, the grains, &c. In sea fishing it is especially such fish 
as the flounders, skates, eels, and other kinds that fall victims in large 
numbers to this method. The Esquimaux and the Indians of the north- 
west coast of America employ the bow and arrow very extensively for 
the capture of fish of various. kinds. There are numerous and varied 
illustrations of this fact among the collections of the National Museum 
at Washington. 
The harpoon comes legitimately in this series of weapons and has 
aumerous applications. The head is placed at the end of a stiff handle, 
and sometimes when this is buried in the flesh it slips off, but remains 
connected by a thong or cord either to the harpoon itself or to a buoy 
which is thrown overboard. The latter method is most generally em- 
ployed in the capture of the swordfish. In the whale fishery the end of 
the line is attached to a boat, which thus serves asa buoy or float. The 
combination of a torpedo or an explosive with a lance, either kept in 
the hand or discharged from a gun, is a more recent and extremely effi- 
cient method of capture of the large animals of the sea. 
The line.—This may be considered essentially under the two divis- 
ions of the line held in the hands or at the end of a rod affixed to some 
object on the shore or to a float of some kind, and having at the extreme 
opposite end one or more hooks baited, with or without floats, for buoy- 
ing the hook to a certain height above the bottom, or for showing by its 
motion the attack of the fish. Here we have the first idea of the hook, 
either covered with some substance attractive to the fish that conceals 
its character or simulates small fish and other objects that tend to at- 
tract its victims. The use of the hook and line in combination for the 
capture of fish is of the utmost antiquity in this respect, perhaps little 
inferior to the bow and arrow. While, of course, the lines themselves 
