244 



TIIK POINT BARROW ESKIMO. 



jasper, 



brown and gray, and lias a piece of white sealskin kipped over 

 the cleft of the shaft at each side of the tang so that the edges 

 of the two pieces almost meet in the middle. They are secured 

 by a spaced whipping of sinew braid. This shaft, w r kich is 

 painted red, evidently had a broad head formerly, as it is 

 expanded at thetip. No. 89S9G [1321] is the mate to this, evi 

 dently made to match it. We also obtained one other flint- 

 headed lance. The mate to No. 89900 [1157], No. 89898 [1157], 

 has a head of dark gray slate 2-3 inches .long. This spear ap 

 pears to be wholly old, except the whipping of sinew braid. 

 The, shaft is of spruce, 5 feet 4f inches long, and painted red 

 with ocher. We also collected three stones heads for such lances. 

 Fig. 24(1, No. . 58711 [US], from Utkiavwlfi, shows the shape of 

 the tang. It is of gray flint, and 3-7 inches long. No. 89G10 

 [1154] is a beautiful lance head of polished olive green jade, 4-3 

 inches long. The hole in the tang is probably not intended 

 for a rivet, as none of the lance heads which we 

 saw were fastened in this way. It is more likely 

 that it was perforated for attaching it to the belt 



a as an amulet. We were told that this lance head 



a 



% was brought from the west. A large slate lance 

 53 head found by Nordenskiold 1 in the old &quot;( hikilon&quot; 

 house at North Cape is of precisely the same shape 

 3 as these deer-lance heads, but from its size was 

 J- probably intended for a whale laiice. 



3 THItOWINd WEAPONS. 



The only throwing weapon which these people 





use is a small bolas, designed for catching birds 

 on the wing. This consists of six or seven small lance. 

 ivory balls, each attached to a string about 30 inches long, the 

 ends of which are fastened together to a tuft of feathers, which 

 serves as a handle and perhaps directs the flight of the missile. 

 When not in use the strings are shortened up, as in Fig. 247, 

 No. 759(59 [1793], for convenience in carrying and to keep them 

 from tangling, by tying them into slip knots, as follows: All 

 the strings being straightened out and laid parallel to each 

 other, they are doubled in a bight, with the end under the 

 standing part, the bight of the end passed through the preced 

 ing bight, which is drawn up close, and so on, usually five or 

 six times, till the strings are sufficiently shortened. A pull 

 on the two ends slips all these knots and the strings come out 

 straight and untangled. 



The bolas is carried knotted up in a pouch slung round the 

 neck, a native frequently carrying several sets. When a flock 

 of ducks is seen approaching, the handle is grasped in the right 



1 Vega, vol. 1, p. 444, Fig. 7. 



