284 



THE POINT HARROW ESKIMO. 



of the peculiar method of reeling up the line such as we saw at Point 

 Barrow. Lines of whalebone are very common among the Eskimo 

 generally, and perhaps this material is preferable to any other for 

 fishing in this cold region, for not only does the elastic whalebone 

 prevent kinking, but the ice which forms instantly on the wet line 

 in winter does not adhere to it, but can easily be shaken off. Xo. 5&amp;lt;&amp;gt;545 

 [410] is a line 51 feet and 10 inches long and 0-05 inch in diameter, made 

 of human hair, neatly braided in a round braid with four strands. This 

 was called a fishing line, but was the only one of the kind seen. 

 Fishhooks of the kind described, with a body of bone or ivory, which 

 serves for a lure, armed with a spur or bent hook of metal, without a 

 barb, seem to be the prevailing type amongst the Eskimo. In the 

 region about Norton Sound (as shown by the extensive collections of 

 Mr. Nelson and others) this is often converted into an elaborate lure by 

 attaching pendants &amp;lt;&amp;gt;M&amp;gt;eads, bits of the red beak of the puffin, etc. 

 Orantz mentions a similar custom in Greenland of baiting a hook with 

 beads. 2 



^ T ets (Kttbrd). The most important fishery at the rivers is carried on 

 by means of gill-nets, set under the ice, and visited every few days. In 

 these are taken large numbers of all three species of whitefish (Core- 

 goiius kenicotti, ( . nelsoni, and C. lanrettte.) The collection contains 

 three specimens of these nets, two of whalebone and one of sinew. No. 

 56754 [147], Fig. 275, is a typical whalebone net. It is long and shal 

 low, 79 meshes long and 

 21 deep, made of fine 

 strips of whalebone fast 

 ened together as in the 

 whalebone fishing lines. 

 Most of the whalebone is 

 black, but a few light col 

 ored strips are intermixed 

 at random. The length 

 of the mesh is 3J inches, 

 and the knot used in mak 

 ing them is the ordinary 

 netting-knot. When not 



in use the net is rolled up into a compact ball and tied up with a bit 

 of string. When set, this net is 21 feet 7 inches long and 3 feet 4 

 inches deep. The other whalebone net (No. 5C753 [172], also from 

 Utkiavwin), is similar to this, but slightly larger, beiug 87 meshes (25 

 feet) long and 22 (3 feet inches) deep. The length of mesh is 3J inches. 



1 &quot;Their Lines are made of Whalebones, cut very small and thin, and at the End tacked together.&quot; 

 Egede, Greenland, p. 107. See also, CYantz, vol. 1, p. 95; Dall, Alaska, p. 148; and the Museum Collec 

 tions which contain many whalebone lines from the Mackenzie and Anderson rivers, collected by 

 MacFarlaiie, and from the whole western region, collected by Nelson. 



21 Instead of abait, they put on the hook a white bone, a glass bead, or a lit of red cloth &quot; (when 

 fishing for srnlpins). History of (Ireenland, vol. 1. p. 05. 



FIG. 275. Section of whalebone net. 



