152 



THE POINT BARROW ESKIMO. 



FlQ. 100. Slate 

 knife-blade. 



lashing which holds those two sections together is of braided sinew. Of 



the blades, the only sharp-pointed one, No. 56684 [228] (Fig. 100), is like 

 the blade of 89584 [1107], but rather larger. The others, 

 all have rounded or truncated points and are not over 3 

 inches long, including the tang, but otherwise closely 

 resemble the blades already described. They all show 

 signs of considerable age and several of them are nicked 

 and gapped on the edge from use. Knives of this class- 

 are not like any in use at the present day, and it was 

 not possible to learn definitely whether this shape served 

 any special purpose. We were, however, given to under 

 stand that the sharp-pointed ones were sometimes, at 

 least, used for stabbing. Perhaps they were used specially 

 for cutting up the smaller animals. 



The second class, of which there are four specimens, is 

 not unlike the first, but the blade is short and broad, 

 with strongly curved edges, and always sharp pointed,, 

 while the haft is always much longer than the blade. 

 Instead of being evenly beveled off on both faces from the 

 middle line to the edges, they are either slightly convex, 



worked down gradually to the edge, or flat with narrowly beveled 



edges. They are all small knives, the longest being 8-3 inches long, 



with the blade projecting 



3-1 inches from the haft, 



and the shortest 4-0 inches, 



with the blade projecting 



only 1-4 inches. 

 Fig. 101, No. 89583 [1305], 



is a knife of this class, with 



the blade a nearly equilat 

 eral triangle (-1-4 inches long and 1-3 inches wide at the base), with 



a flat wooden haft as wide as the 

 blade and 3.J inches long, cleft at 

 the tip and lashed with thirteen or 

 fourteen turns of sinew braid. The 

 holes near the butt of the haft were 

 probably to receive a lanyard. Fig. 



102, No. 89591 [1016], is another form of the same class. The blade is 



secured by a single rivet of 



wood. 

 The third class consists 



of large knives, with long, 



broad, lanceolate blades, 



and short straight hafts. 



There is only one complete 



specimen, No. 89592 [1002], Fig. 103. 



FIG. 101. Slate knifi-. 



1 IU. 101 . Slate knife. 



lniiitiiiL -kiiil r. 



This has a blade of soft . light green- 



