214 



THE POINT HARROW ESKIMO. 



Fig. 200, No. 89380 [793], is a fragment of a very ancient narwhal ivory 

 spearhead, dark brown from age and shiny from much handling, which 

 aj ] tears to have been worn as an amulet. It was said to have come 

 from the east and to belong tit a bird dart, though it does not 

 resemble any in use at the present day in this region. It is a 

 slender four-sided rod, having on one side three short oblique 

 equidistant simple barbs. The resemblance of this specimen 

 to the bone dart heads from Scania figured by Dr. Kau 1 is 

 very striking. 



*SVvr/ rtnrt*. The Eskimo of nearly all localities use a dart 

 or small harpoon to capture the smaller marine animals, with 

 a loose, barbed head of bone fitted into a socket in the end of 

 the shaft, to which it is attached by a line of greater or less 

 length. It is always contrived so that when the head is 

 struck into the quarry, the shaft is detached from the head 

 and acts as a drag upon the animal. This is effected by 

 cirnt. ivory attaching an inflated bladder to the shaft, or else by attach- 

 durt heart. j n g he i mc w jth a martingale so that the shaft is dragged 

 sideways through the water. Nearly all Eskimo except those of Point 

 Barrow, as shown in the National Museum collections and the figures 

 in Crantz* and Itink 3 , use weapons of this kind of considerable si/e, 

 adapted not only to the capture of the small seals (Phoca viiulina and 

 J .fa tiflii), but also to the pursuit of the larger seals, the nar 

 whal and beluga. At Point Barrow, however, at the present 

 day, they employ only a small form of this dart, not over 5 feet 

 long, with a little head, adapted only for holding the smallest 

 seals. That they formerly used the larger weapon is shown 

 by our finding a single specimen of the head of such a spear, 

 No. 89374 f 1281 J Fig. 201 . It is of hard, compact bone, impreg 

 nated with oil, 8-1 inches long. The flat shank is evidently 

 intended to fit into a socket. The two holes through the widest 

 part of the shank are for attaching the line. 



This is very like the head of the weapon called ngligalc 

 (modern Greenlandic agdligak), figured by Grant/,, and re 

 ferred to above, except that the barbs are opposite each other. 

 Mr. Lucieii M. Turner tells me that it is precisely like, the head 

 of the dart used at Norton Sound for capturing the beluga. The 

 native who sold this specimen called it &quot;nuia kpai mVtkoa,&quot; 

 &quot;the point of a bird dart,&quot; to which it does bear some resem 

 blance, though the shape of the butt and the line holes indicate 

 plainly that it was -A detachable dart head. Probably, as in the jto m r&quot;i ; Jrt 

 case of the. ancient bird dart point, No. 89372 [700], referred to 1 &quot;- a&amp;lt;1 - 

 above, this weapon has been so long disused that the natives have 

 forgotton what it was. The name a- kqligiik, evidently the same as the 



1 1 rehi.storic fishing, Figs. 94 and !15, ]&amp;gt;. 7:t. 



History of Greenland, vol. 1, ]i. 147, PI. v, Figs. C and 



Tales, etc., ri. opposite p. 12 ( &quot;bladder ;irro\v &quot;}. 



