MURDOCH.] FLINT WOKKING. 287 



on the back of a fish they spring apart and allow the middle prong to 

 pierce him, and then spring back so that the spurs either catch in his 

 sides or meet below his belly, precisely on the principle- of the &quot;patent 

 eel spear.&quot; This implement is almost identical with one in the National 

 Museum from Hudson Hay, which appears to be in general use among 

 the eastern Eskimo. 1 The name, kaki bua, is very nearly the same as 

 that used by the eastern natives (kakkle-wei, Parry, and kaki vak, 

 Kumlien). This spear is admirably adapted for catching large fish in 

 shallow rocky streams where a net can not be used, or where they are 

 caught by dams in tidal streams in the manner described by Egede and 

 Crautz. There is so little tide, however, on the northwest coast, that 

 this method of fishing can not be practiced, and, as far as I know, there 

 is no locality in the range of the Point Barrow natives, a region of open 

 shoal beaches, and rivers free of rocks, where this spear could be used 

 in which a net would not serve the purpose much better. Taking into 

 consideration the scarcity of these spears and the general use of nets, I 

 am inclined to believe that this spear is an ancient weapon, formerly in 

 general use, but driven out of fashion by the introduction of nets. 



FLINT WORKING. 



These people still retain the art of making flint arrow and spear 

 heads, and other implements such as the blades for the skin scrapers to be 

 hereafter described. Many of the flint arrowheads and spear points al 

 ready described were made at Nitwit k or UtkiavwJn especially for sale 

 to us and are as finely formed and neatly finished as any of the ancient 

 ones. The flints, in many cases water-worn pebbles, appear to have 

 been splintered by percussion into fragments of suitable sixes, and these 

 sharp-edged spalls are flaked into shape by means of a little instru 

 ment consisting of a short, straight rod of some hard material mounted 

 in a short curved haft. We collected nine of these tools (ki gli) of 

 which two have no blades. No. 892(52 [1223] figured in Point Barrow 

 Report, Ethnology, PI. in, Fig. 7, has been selected as the type. The 

 handle is of walrus ivory,- 7 8 inches long, straight and nearly cylin 

 drical for about 4 inches, then bending down like a saw handle and 

 spread out into a spatulate butt. Fitted into a deep groove on the top 

 of the handle so that its tip projects 1-8 inches beyond the tip of the 

 latter is a slender four-sided rod of whale s bone, 4-7 inches long. This 

 is held in place by two simple lashings, one of cotton twine and the 

 other of seal thong. The flint to be flaked is held in the left hand and 



1 Kumlien .s description (Contributions, p. :i7, Cumberland &amp;lt;inlf ) would apply almost word for word 

 to this spear, and Captain Parry, (Second Voyage, p. 50!)) describes a very siniilarone in use at Iglulik. 

 The &quot;Perch, headed with two sharp-hooked Hones,&quot; for spearing salmon called in the fjreulandsk 

 Ordbog, kakiak, &quot;en Lystcr (med to eller tre Pigge&quot;) mentioned by Egedc (Greenland, p. 108) is prob 

 ably the same tiling, and a similar spear is s|n.ki-n of by Kae (Narrative, p. 172) as in use at Repulse. 

 Bay. A similar weapon, described by Dr. Kink as &quot;Miteinem in brittischen Colunihicn vorkommendeu 

 identisch,&quot; was found In east Greenland (Deutsche Geographische Blatter, vol. 9, p. 234|. See the, 

 description of the spear found by Schwatka at Back s Great Fish Kiver (Nimrod in the Xorth, p. 139), 

 also described by Klutschak (Als Eskimo, etc., p. 120). 



