74 



weapons employed in taking sea game. The umiak was formerly- 

 used in whaling, but has passed out of existence except in isolated 

 spots in Ungava and on the east coast of Hudson bay. 



Sealing Harpoon (see Figure 15). 



First and foremost in the kayaker's equipment is the sealing 

 harpoon (nau'leq) which rests, ready for use, on the right hand 

 front of the hunter, with its complement, the coil of line 

 {a"tlaunag), lying in the rack directly in front of the hunter, 

 and the float (a"vataq) directly behind. The sealing harpoon 

 has a heavy wooden shaft (igimwk, Labrador) 6 to 8 feet long, 

 which terminates in an ivory head {qa'ti'rn) about 2 inches long, 

 into which the foreshaft, made of a walrus tusk, fits. The fore- 

 shaft is kept in its place in the socket of the ivory head by two 

 parallel lines of sealhide on either side, which prevent it from 

 inclining to one side. The ingenious fastening of the thongs is 

 illustrated in the accompanying drawing, taken from Boas' 

 work on the Central Eskimo (see Figure 16). In the side of the 

 wooden shaft, just where the harpoon properly balances for 

 throwing, is inserted an ivory or wooden plug to prevent the hand 

 from slipping. The harpoon head (tirka'q) fits on to the pointed 

 end of the foreshaft by means of a thimble-shaped hole gouged 

 out at the end, and is kept taut on the foreshaft by a line running 

 through two holes back of its iron point (qau'leq) and fastened 

 by an ivory eye {teliiy^ik) or a simple loop in the line to an ivory 

 pin on the foreshaft, situated on the front side of the shaft next 

 to the handhold. It should be noted that the fastening of the 

 line is on the opposite side from the curve of the tusk, forming 

 the foreshaft, which gives an added tension to the line and keeps 

 it from going slack. ''There is a reason for everything," as an 

 old Eskimo said who was explaining the harpoon to me, and his 

 remark seems justified when we consider the ingenious adapt- 

 ation of each fixture of the harpoon. 



When the game is struck, the head breaks off from the 

 foreshaft, and the stricken animal is played directly from it. 

 The foreshaft unjoints at the head of the shaft and both 

 -float safely away, to be picked up later by the hunter. (In a 



