MI HDOCIl.] 



SEAL DART. 



215 



Kia. 202. Nozzle fo 

 flout. 



Greenlandie fif/tllifiak, is still in use, but was always applied to the old 

 bone harpoon heads, which are, however, of the toggle-head pattern 

 (described below). It seems as if the Point Barrow natives had for 

 gotten all about the ;1 k(|ltgfik except that it was a 

 harpoon with a bone head for taking seals. At the 

 present time the small bladder float, permanently 

 attached to the shaft of the harpoon, is never used 

 at Point Barrow. That it was used in ancient times 

 is shown by our finding in one of the ruined houses 

 in Utkiavwlfi a very old broken nozzle for inflating one of these floats. 

 Fig. 202, No. ,S!720 [75(5|, is this specimen, which was picked up by Capt. 

 Herendeen. This is a rounded 

 tube of fossil ivory, 1-3 inches 

 long and about one-half inch 

 in diameter, slightly contract 

 ed toward one end and then 

 expanded into a stout collar. 

 At the other is a stout longi 

 tudinal llange, three -fourths 

 inch long, perforated with an 

 oblong slot. Between the 

 flange and the collar the sur 

 face is roughened with cross 

 cuts, and the other end is still 

 choked with the remains of a 

 wooden plug. This nozzle was 

 inserted intoa hole in the blad 

 der as far as the flange and 

 secured by tying the bladder 

 above the collar. The whole 

 was then secured to the shaft 

 by a lashing through the slot, 

 and could be inflated at pleas 

 ure and corked up with the 

 wooden plug. 



As I have already said, the 

 only harpoon of this kind now 

 used at Point Barrow is a 

 small one intended only for 

 the capture of small seals. It 

 has no bladder, but the rather 

 long line is attached to the 

 shaft by a martingale which 

 makes the shaft drag sideways &quot; - li:; * llilrt 



through the water. Three of these little darts, which are thrown with 

 a handboard like the bird dart, make a set. The resistance of the shafts 



