NELSON] FISH HOOKS AND SINKERS 181 



plate LXIX, are attached to rounded, tapering- sinkers of ivory. One 

 of them lias a deerhorn shank, serrated on the edges, with a stout 

 iron barb inserted through the lower end. The other hook has a 

 rude, straight shank, made from a stick about four inches in length, 

 with a notch at the upper end for attaching the line, which passes 

 downward to the lower end, where a pointed spine of deerhorn is 

 lashed obliquely across it. Another variety of hook is a rudely made 

 specimen from St Lawrence island (figure 25, plate LXIX). It is cut 

 from a piece of walrus ivory and is provided with a long barbed point. 

 It was used for catching wolf fish, but probably both this and the two 

 preceding examples were also used for cod-fishing. 



A similar hook from the same locality is shown iii figure 29, plate 

 LXIX. In this case, however, the shank is of wood with a barbed point 

 of bone fitted in a slot at the base. The upper end of the shank has a 

 hole for attaching the whalebone line. This hook was used probably 

 for catching codfish. An outfit for catching wolf fish, illustrated in fig 

 ure 27, plate LXVIII, was obtained at the head of Norton sound. It 

 consists of a shuttle-like rod, 28 inches in length, on which is wound a 

 rawhide line, near the end of which a rounded piece of lava, reddish 

 in color, is fastened with a basket lashing. The hook has a straight 

 deerhoru shank, to the lower end of which is lashed crosswise an iron 

 nail with the projecting end pointed. In the fork between the hook and 

 the shank a kind of bait composed of sinew-like material is secured 

 by a lashing. Figure 28, plate LXVIII, shows a similar outfit from Nor 

 ton sound, with the sinker made of a rounded granite pebble grooved 

 at each end for the attachment of the rawhide lashing Another out 

 fit (figure 25, plate LXVIII), from Norton sound, for catching black fish 

 (Dallia) is a long, slender, shuttle-like rod 20 inches in length, on which 

 is wound a short line of sinew with a small hook at one end. This 

 hook has a straight, rounded ivory shank and is provided with a 

 pointed iron pin through the lower end, with the tip upcurved. 



A?loug the shore of Bering sea and the adjacent Arctic coast con 

 siderable ingenuity is displayed by the people in manufacturing sink 

 ers for fishing lines, and a great variety are made. For several species 

 of fish the sinker is intended to attract the fish, as well as to serve as 

 a weight for the line, and is made of a variegated white and dark 

 colored stone. Other sinkers, of ivory, have a portion of the surface 

 blackened, and some of the stone sinkers have an ivory cap. A large 

 collection of these objects was obtained, from which typical examples 

 have been selected for illustration. 



A specimen from the Diomede islands (figure 32, plate LXIX) is a 

 piece of bone, discolored to a chocolate-brown, pierced with a hole and 

 grooved near the upper end to receive the line. The lower end has 

 a hole for fastening the leader for the hook. The lower end represents 

 the head of a fish, with an incision for the mouth; a blue bead repre 

 sents one eye and a piece of lead the other. Another example from 



