160 ACROSS THE SUB-ARCTICS OF CANADA. 



spear of somewhat peculiar design. It is in all about 

 five feet long, and consists of a wooden handle termi- 

 nated at one end by a slender barbed ivory or iron rod, 

 sharply pointed. About half way up the handle, three 

 pointed barbed ivory fingers are securely fastened. The 

 handle is then fitted into a wooden socket, which is held 

 in the hand, and from which the spear is thrown. It is 

 claimed that by means of the wooden socket the spear 

 can be thrown with greater precision than by the bare 

 hand, to which it would adhere more or less. However 

 that may be, an Eskimo can hurl his bird-spear a 

 marvellously long distance, and with deadly effect. 



If the point of the spear misses the bird, one of the 

 side fingers is almost sure to pierce it, or catch it 

 between the fingers and the spear handle. 



In this, way, ptarmigan, ducks, and other land and sea 

 fowls are obtained in considerable numbers. They are 

 usually speared while sitting in flocks upon the snow or 

 in the water, but they are also frequently killed in this 

 way when on the wing. Sometimes the bow and arrow 

 is used for bringing down the feathered game, but the 

 spear is the instrument chiefly employed. 



Fish are caught both by spearing and with the hook. 

 The latter is of the crudest design, and is used in 

 trolling. A troll consists of a heavy iron hook, fastened 

 to the face of a small ivory disk, to which is attached 

 a fine, strong line, made from plaited deer-skin sinews. 



Fish are not, however, caught so much with the hook 



as they are by the spear. Indeed, it is chiefly by means 



v of the harpoon and spear that the Eskimo larder is 



supplied. The fish-spear is a kind of three-pronged 



barbed fork, fastened to a handle. It is used chiefly I'm- 



