192 



THE POINT BARROW ESKIMO. 





ble nor altogether unlawful.&quot; The use ot bears bones for these weapons 

 points to some superstitious idea, perhaps having reference to the 

 ferocity of the animal. We collected five specimens of these daggers, 

 of which No. 89484 [767], Fig. 174, has been selected as the type. It is 

 the distal end of the ulna of a polar bear, with the neck and condyles 

 forming the hilt, and the shaft split so as to expose the medullary cavity 

 and cut into a pointed blade. It is very old, blackened, and crumbling 

 on the surface, and is a foot long. 



Fig. 175a, No. 89475 [988], from Nuwttk, is made of a straight splinter 

 from the shaft of one of the long bones, 9f inches long. No. 89480 [1141], 

 from Utkiavwln, has a roughly whittled hilt and a somewhat twisted 

 blade, rather narrow, but widened to a sharp lanceolate point. 

 It is 12 inches long. No. 89481 [1175], from the same place, 



has the roughly shaped hilt 



whipped with two turns of 



sinew. No. 89482 [1709], Fig. 



1756, also from Utkiavwln, is 



dirk-shaped, having but one 



edge and a straight back. 



The hilt, as before, is roughly 



sawed from the solid head of 



the bone. No. 89485 [965], 

 ^, Fig. 176, from Nuwttk, was 



also said to be a dagger, but 



could not have been a very 



effective weapon. It is of 



whale s bone, 5 inches long. 



It is rather rudely carved, 



old, and dirty, but the notches 



on the haft are newly cut. 

 Dirks or daggers of bear s 



bone, like those described, 



are really rather formidable 



weapons, as it is easy to give 



the splinter of bone a very 



keen point. The Museum con 

 tains a bone dagger curiously 



like these Eskimo weapons, 



but made of the bone of the 

 FIQ. 174. Dagger of griz/ly bear, and used by 



the Indians of the McCloud 

 River, northern California. They believe that the peculiar shape of 

 the point, having a hollow (the medullary cavity) on one face, like the 

 Eskimo daggers, causes the wound to bleed internally. 



FIG. 175. Bone daggers. 



1 Kink, Tales and Traditions, p. 35. 



