A VOYAGE AROUND THE ROOM 



had to do just the best he could with the means at 

 hand. One of his devices for increasing the range 

 of his spear was the throwing stick, a contri- 

 vance which has been found in Australia, North 

 America, and other parts of the world among sav- 

 age peoples. Here is one form of this contrivance 

 which the Aleut hunter who owned it called a 

 "nogock." It is a flattened stick a couple of feet 

 long, grooved to give a good hold in the fingers, 

 and fitted with a tip of ivory against which the bot- 

 tom of the dart or harpoon rested. By this device 

 he could lengthen his arm and cast his dart with 

 tremendous velocity. 



Here is something still rarer than the Aleut's no- 

 gock that is to say, the harpoon or giant arrow 

 which he used with the nogock. This weapon is 

 about four feet long, is feathered like an Indian 

 arrow, and has a long head, not of steel, but of 

 slate. With no better tools, and with no better boat 

 than the tipsy bidarka of seal hide, out of which 

 you or I would fall as fast as we could climb in, 

 the Aleut hunter went to sea after whales; and, 

 moreover, he got whales. 



Sneaking up on one of these great creatures 

 when he found it on the surface, your Aleut would 

 drive his slate-headed little harpoon deep into its 

 body. He knew very well that if the stone head 



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