174 Morten P. Porsild. 



throwing stick not shown in the figure. Here the shaft is provided 

 with a fairly large, but light, bladder, which very considerably increases 

 the resistance of the shaft in the water. In order to give the weapon 

 weight and balance proportionate to the bladder, which also acts as 

 a steering apparatus, the fore end is provided with a heavy bone knob, 

 into which the small point is pushed. The line is very long and is 

 fastened to the shaft at the bladder. Hereby the shaft is to some extent 

 kept out of the animal's way but it also becomes easier to get hold of 

 it, as the length of the line becomes the radius of the circle within 

 which the animal tosses itself about during its efforts to escape. 



Here, therefore, we have in this series of weapons for hunting the 

 same animal the easiest transitions from the arrow to the dart, and 

 even to the dart with a bladder, which, with all Eskimo tribes having 

 open water, plays such an important part in hunting seals. For this 

 purpose, however, the implement has to be considerably re-modelled. 

 The seal is bigger and stronger than the sea-otter, and is very persevering 

 in diving. Here the development proceeds in two ways, the terminal 

 points of which are shown in g and i. 



Fig. 27, g is the last form of the bladder dart in West Green- 

 land before it disappears entirely. The point is of thin iron and its 

 object is not so much to wound the animal as to attach it firmly to 

 the shaft. The line is only so long as to secure the safety of the shaft, 

 because this implement is supplemented by another implement which 

 kills: the lance. As this is also thrown from the kayak it is not neces- 

 sary to get so close to the animal that one can catch hold of the line; 

 besides it would be too risky for the hunter. Figure 27, h, 2 shows that 

 formerly much smaller points of a form similar to that from Alaska 

 were used in West Greenland. 



Fig. 27, i, (after Boas 1. c.) shows the bladder darts of the 

 Central Eskimo (from Cumberland Sound) which are so heavy that 

 Rink may justly say about these forms that "their monstrous shape 

 would amaze a Greenlander." The detachable point is here a veritable 

 harpoon, the loosening of which, besides, is secured by the movable 

 foreshaft, which by its weight, moreover, balances the large bladder. 



Whether this form was known in Greenland in earlier times 

 is doubtful, and can only be decided by some happy discovery, be- 

 cause the single points and foreshafts would scarcely be capable of being 

 distinguished from harpoons and igimaq'& of harpoon shafts. That there 

 have been far heavier bone-points with fixed, inserted blades has been 

 previously mentioned, and is shown in Fig. 27, h, 1, which is drawn on 

 the same scale as the small bone point below. 



From the bladder dart figure 27, i the development again proceeds 

 in two directions, the terminal points of which give entirely different 

 weapons. With the omittance of the toggling butt of the detachable point 

 of i we get the lance with detachable head of the Central Eskimo 



