THE INDIANS OF CAPE FLATTERY. 39 



average passage, however, is about three days for the distance named, which 

 includes camping two nights. 



WHALING AND FISHING GEAR. This is a most interesting and important portion 

 of the manufacture of the Makahs, and consists of harpoons, ropes, lines, buoys, 

 fish-hooks, spears, &c. 



The harpoon has been partly described before. Its head is made of sheet copper 

 or sheet iron, cut as shown in Fig. 4, a. The barbs are of elk or deer horn, and 

 shaped as shown in Fig. 4, b. These arc fixed on each side of the blade or point, 

 fitted tightly, and kept in place by cords or strips of bark. The whole is then 

 covered with spruce gum, which is obtained by setting a fat pitch-knot by the fire, 

 and catching the melted pitch in a shell placed beneath. It is then kneaded till 

 it acquires the consistency of soft cobbler s wax, and is applied and distributed 

 with the fingers. The whole blade and a portion of the barbs are covered with 

 this pitch, which when cool is hard and smooth, and forms a tapering wedge-shaped 

 spear-head. The pitch is then scraped from the edge of the blade, which is 

 ground very sharp. The lanyard attached to the spear-head is made of the 

 sinews of the whale, twisted into a rope and covered with twine. It is made fast 

 to the head by unlaying the strands, fitting them around the barbs, and winding the 

 cord and bark over them while fastening the barbs on. The fisherman is careful 

 to have the lanyard securely fastened to the barbs, for on it depends the hold of 

 the buoy on the whale. The blades, not being so securely fastened, frequently get 

 loose after being imbedded in a whale for a long time, although some that were 

 shown to me have been used for years. 



This species of harpoon would scarcely be strong enough to bear the strain of 

 a whale boat towing by it, as is the practice with our whalemen ; but as they have 

 only to bear the tension of the buoyancy of the float which is attached to the lanyard, 

 they answer the double purpose of impeding the progress of the whale, so as to 

 enable the Indian to kill it, and also of keeping the body from sinking after it is 

 dead. The staff of the harpoon I have already described. 



The method of making ropes and cords from sinews of the whale is as follows : 

 The sinews, after being well dried, are separated into small fibres, and when ready 

 for twisting resemble finely dressed flax. The threads are spun by twisting them 

 between the palm of the hand and the naked thigh, and, as they are twisted, they 

 are rolled up into balls. When unrolled for use they are twisted in the same 

 manner by rolling them on the thigh. The strands are prepared from fine or 

 coarse fibres, as the size of the cord or rope may require. Twine too is made by 

 the process just described ; but ropes are first made into strands, and these strands 

 are twisted by hand and laid together with much hard work, which might be 

 avoided by the use of the most primitive machinery of our rope factories. But 

 the Makahs use nothing but their hands, and, although the work is slow and hard, 

 yet they manufacture as handsome ropes as any of the &quot; hand-laid&quot; articles of the 

 whites. 



Ropes of greater size, such as arc required for towing whales, are made of the 

 tapering limbs of the cedar, first twisted like withes ; and from the long fibrous 

 roots of the spruce. These are first cut in lengths of three or four feet, and then 



