230 



THE POINT BARROW ESKIMO. 



one end through holes in the foreshaft. No. 50708 [532] is peculiar in 

 having the tang on the shaft and the corresponding cleft in the fore- 

 shaft. The shaft itself varies little in shape and proportions, and at 

 the present day is sometimes made of ash or other hard 

 wood obtained from the ships. The line catch is gener 

 ally a little hook of ivory or hard bone like the one de 

 scribed, but two specimens have small screws fastened 

 into the shaft to serve this purpose. The tinger rest is 

 ordinarily of the same shape as on the type and fastened 

 on in the same way, but No. 56771 [535] has this made of 

 a knob of ivory elaborately carved into a seal s head. 

 The eyes are represented by round bits of ivory with 

 pupils drilled in them inlaid in the head. This is evi 

 dently the knob of a seal drag (see below) as the longitud 

 inal perforation from chin to nape now serves no purpose. 

 It is fastened on by a lashing of whalebone, which runs 

 round the shaft and through a transverse hole in the knob. 

 Harpoons closely resembling these in type are used by 

 the Eskimo of western North America wherever they habit 

 ually hunt the walrus. At many places this heavy spear 

 is armed at the bnttwith a long sharp pick of ivory like 

 the smaller seal spear. Two of these large harpoons ap 

 pear to be rigged especially for the pursuit of the bearded 

 seal, as they have heads which are of precisely the same 

 shape and material as the small seal harpoons in the col 

 lection. Both these heads have lanceolate iron blades, 

 conoidal antler bodies with double barbs, and are more 

 slender than the walrus harpoon heads. No. 50770 [534], Fig. 210, 

 has a head 4 inches long and 0-7 broad at the widest part, and fastened 

 to a very long line (12 fathoms long) without a leader, the end 

 being simply passed through the line hole and seized down 

 to the standing part with sinew braid. This is the method 

 of attaching the head of the small seal harpoons. This line 

 is so long that it may have been held in the boat and not 

 attached to a float. No. 50708 [532], however, has a leader 

 with a becket of the ordinary style. Fig. 223, No. 50011 

 [8!l], is a head similar to those just described, and probably, 

 from its size, intended for large seals. It is highly orna 

 mented with the usual reddened incised pattern. 



The throwing harpoon for small seals is an exact copy in 

 miniature of the walrus harpoon, with the addition of a long 

 bayonet-shaped pick of ivory at the butt. The line, however, 

 is upwards of 30 yards long, and the end never leaves the hcaliV.r larg&quot; 

 hand. The line is hitched round the shaft back of the line i- 

 catch, which now only serves to keep the line from slipping forward, as 

 the shaft is never detached from the line. This harpoon is. used exclu- 



FlQ. 222. Fore- 

 shaft of walrus 

 harpoon. 



FIG. 223. 



