MfKDOTH.] 



SEAL HARPOONS. 



233 







FIG. 226 Jade blade for seal 

 harpoon. 



foresliat t and ice pick arc lashed in with sinew braid, which is first 

 knotted round the tip of the shaft and then hitched round witli 

 a series of left-handed soldier s hitches. The end of the thong 

 which holds the loose shaft is passed through the hole in it and 

 knotted and the other end hitched into the pulley at the smallest 

 part of the foreshaft. The head is- like that of the preceding, 

 but has a colloidal body of reindeer antler, a common material 

 for seal-harpoon heads, and the line, which is of stout sinew braid 

 4. 5 feet long, is attached to it simply by 

 passing the end through the line hole 

 and tying it with a clove hitch to the 

 standing part 9.J inches from the head. 

 This spear is about the same size as the 

 preceding. These weapons are all of 

 the same general pattern, but vary in 

 length according to the height of the 

 owner. The heads for these harpoons, 

 as well as for the other form of seal har 

 poon, are usually about 3 inches long, ! 

 and, as a rule, have lanceolate blades. 

 The body is generally conoidal, often 

 made of reindeer antler, and always, 

 apparently, with a double barb. It is 

 generally plain, but sometimes orna- 

 mented like the walrus-harpoon heads. 



No. S!I7S4 [100S | was made by Ilu bw ga, the Nimatanineuii, 

 when thinking of coming to winter at ITtkiavwin. He had 

 had no experience in sealing, having apparently spent all his 

 winters on the rivers inland, and this harpoon head seems to 

 have been condemned as unsatisfactory by his new friends at 

 Utkiavwin. It looks like a very tolerable naula, but is unu 

 sually small, being only 2i inches long. 



We saw only one stone blade for a seal harpoon, No. 89023 

 [1418], Fig. 22&amp;lt;i. This is of light olive green .jade, and trian 

 gular, with peculiarly dull edges and point. Each face is con 

 caved, and there is a hole, for a rivet. (Compare the jade- 

 bladed harpoon figured by Nordenskiiild and referred to above.) 

 It is 2 inches long and 0-7 inch wide at the base. It appears 

 to have been kept as an amulet. The other form of seal har 

 poon comes properly under the next head. 



TIIUrSTINU WEAPONS. 



Harpoons. For the capture of seals as they come up for air 

 to their breathing holes or cracks in the ice a harpoon is used 

 which has a short wooden shaft, armed, as before, with an ice 

 pick and a long, slender, loose shaft suited for thrusting down through 



