Ml KUOCH.] 



WALRUS HARPOONS. 



227 



Only three out of the forty-eight show this peculiarity, of which No. 

 56013 [53], Fig. HI 7ft, is an example. 



The specimens figured show the different styles of ornamentation, 

 which always consist of incised patterns colored with red ocher or rarely 

 with soot. These never rep 

 resent natural objects, but 

 are always conventional pat 

 terns, generally a single or 

 double border on two or 

 more faces with short ob 

 lique cross-lines and branch 

 es. Harpoon heads at Point 

 Harrow are probably never 

 ornamented with the cir 

 cles and dots,&quot; so common 

 on other implements and on 

 the harpoons of the south 

 ern Eskimo. 



Twenty-eight of the heads 

 still have the leaders at 

 tached to them. The object 

 of this short line is to ena 

 ble the hunter to readily de 

 tach a broken head and put 

 on a fresh one without going 

 to the trouble of undoing a 

 splice, which must be made a 5 



strong to keep tllC head from Fio. 217. Typical walrus harpoon heads. 



separating from the line. It is made of a stout piece of rawhide thong, 

 the skin of the walrus or bearded seal, about one-third inch in diameter, 



and usually from 2 to 

 3 feet long. It is al 

 ways passed through 

 the line hole, as in the 

 specimen described, 

 and the ends are 

 made into a becket 

 for attaching the line, 

 with an end left to 

 . serve as a handle for 

 pulling the two beck- 

 ets apart when the 



FIG. 218. Walrus-harpoon lifjid. with leader. maill HlIC ends ill a 



becket. Occasionally (two are made this way) the longer end is simply 

 doubled in a bight, and the three parts are then sei/ed together with 

 sinew braid, but it is generally made with a splice, the details of which 

 differ slightly on the different leaders. 



