MURDOCH.] 



HARPOONS 8KAL AND WHALE. 



235 



and the lino brought down to the tip of the shaft and made fast by t\ro 

 or three round turns with a bight tucked under, so that 

 it can be easily slipped. It is also confined to the loose 

 shaft by the end of the assembling line, which makes one 

 or two loose turns round it. The slack of the line is 

 doubled into &quot;fakes&quot; and tucked between the 

 shaft and assembling line. 



The other specimen is of the same pattern, but 

 slightly different proportions, having 1 a shaft 184 

 inches long and a pick lit inches long. The loose 

 shaft is of ivory, and there are lashings of white 

 whalebone at each end of the shaft. The assem 

 bling line is hitched round the foreshaft as well 

 as round the two ends of the shaft, and simply 

 knotted round the pick. The line is of very stout 

 sinew braid, and has an eye neatly spliced in the 

 end for looping it round the shaft. Fig. 229, Xo. 

 89551 [1082], is a model of one of these harpoons, 

 made for sale. It is 10J inches long, and correct 

 in all its parts, except that the whole head is 

 of ivory, even to having the ends of the shaft 

 whipped with light-colored whalebone. The shaft 

 is of pine and the rest of walrus ivory, with lines 

 of sinew braid. We also collected four loose 

 shafts for such harpoons. One of these, Xo. 

 8!)48 J [802], is of whale s bone and unusually 

 short, only 14 inches long. It perhaps belonged 

 &amp;gt;j to a lad s spear. The other three are long, 20 to 

 25 inches, and are made of narwhal ivory, as is 

 shown by the spiral twist in the grain. 



The harpoon used for the whale fishery is a 

 heavy, bulky weapon, which is never thrown, but 

 thrust with both hands as the whale rises under 

 the bows of the umiak. When not in use it rests 

 in a large ivory crotch, shaped like a rowlock, in 

 the bow. The shaft is of wood and 8 or 9 feet 

 long, and there is no loose shaft, the bone or 

 ivory foreshaft being tapered off to a slender 

 point of such a shape that the head .easily un- 

 Fio.-j-j9.- ships. This foreshaft is not weighted, as in the 

 seal bar walrus harpoon, since this is not necessary in a . 

 poon. weapon which does not leave the hand. The 

 harpoon line is h tted witli two inflated sealskin floats. 



Xo complete, genuine whaling harpoons were ever of- ^ 

 fered for sale, but a man at Xuwfik made a very excel- F &quot; m Lar!!B 



_ model oi a whale har- 



leut reduced model about two-thirds the usual size (Xo. poon. 



89909 [1023], Pig. 230), which will serve as the type of this weapon 



